A one-day workshop on ‘Tourism Development in Meghalaya: Problems and Prospects’ was organised by the Department of Sociology, Women’s College Shillong today.
The workshop which was sponsored by the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department was chaired by NEHU Prof. Jemino Mawthoh, also former MLA, wherein he spoke on tourism industry as being able to bring in economic growth for the state. He also talked about how problems like unemployment can be reduced with the growth of this industry.
District Forest Officer, I. Arul Gnana Mathuram during his presentation ‘Forest and Tourism in Meghalaya’ showed participants the different unexplored and natural settings of Meghalaya and wildlife and bird sanctuaries like Daribokgre in Garo Hills, Nongrah Plateau and Siju Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary.
Tourist Officer, Carolina Khyriem spoke on ‘Tourism Policy of Meghalaya. She discussed on how Meghalaya has been able to achieve the one million tourist mark in 2017. She also discussed at length on the collaboration of the Government of Meghalaya and private sectors for the growth of tourism and entrepreneurship in the state.
ICFAI Assistant Professor, Apsara Marwein presented on ‘Tourism and Sustainable Livelihood in the context of Meghalaya.’ She described about how tourism can be a smokeless industry by not depleting the natural environment and practising conservation methods.
Prof. Benjamin Lyngdoh, NEHU discussed on tourism being natural based in Meghalaya. He based his topic on what people can get from tourism and what tourism can give.
Earlier, Principal of the college Dr. Ratnadeep Roy during his welcome address spoke about the beauty of Meghalaya and how this sector can flourish and generate income with proper development.
Teachers and students from various colleges participated in the workshop. The discussion round of the program generated interesting questions from the participants which were posted to the panellists.
