Against criticism of cash starved Meghalaya spending lavishly on hosting festivals, the state government on Thursday stated that it is not spending but investing on Tourism industry which is growing in leaps and bounds with the GST going up by Rs 3.5 crores per day whenever there is a major footfall.
“I would like to make a lucid statement on what people think wasting or spending is actually investment in the tourism sector. For instance, tomorrow I will be visiting Kynshi which by dint of having huge tourism potential is getting a road project of Rs 2 crore sanctioned. It means tourism brings along with it developmental growth of local areas including improvement of road network,” said Minister in-charge Tourism Paul Lyngdoh.
Stating that the efforts of the department are yielding fruits so briefly, he said, “The cherry blossom festival is taking place on the 15th and 16th of November, where renowned international artists like Akon, Boney M, Lucas, some rappers and as well as state artists and local performers and bands are going to be part of cherry blossom 2024”.
“ Also for the first time, we are introducing an MMA tournament which will have fighters coming from countries like Thailand and Philippines to compete with national players as well as local players from Meghalaya,” he added.
Pointing out that most miss out on the factor that the State government is branding Meghalaya as a major and ultimate tourist destination of the country, he said, “The tangible economic benefits that comes to Meghalaya, let’s take the case of GST 18 percent is paid by everybody involved in the hospitality industry and paid by transport sector boosting local economy”.
“Any day we have a major footfall the collection of GST goes up by 3.4 crores per day. The Government of Meghalaya is investing a total amount of Rs 5 crores in the cherry blossom festival. Nagaland govt spends 10 crores for hornbill festival which is double the amount we are investing. but look at the tangible economic returns that come to our State,” he added.
He informed, “Just the GST itself, which is 18% and is paid by the hospitality sector, the transport sector. It adds up to 3.5 crores per day, depending on the footfalls that we expect. The excise duty itself, VAT is 30%, excise duty is 15% and on a single day please bear in mind that these festivals are mainly focused on the arrival of tourists domestic and international, to take part in these festivals”.
Lyngdoh also informed that for the first time ever, the Government of Japan has come forward to partner with the Government of Meghalaya in the Cherry Blossom festival.
“It is an opening for an exchange at various levels with the Government of Japan, and we will also be having sumo wrestlers and various exponents of arts and music of Japan. So that itself is a huge tangible dividend for Meghalaya. If you look at the footfalls, even a footfall of 15,000 which is a conservative figure, if there are 15,000 attendees from outside Meghalaya, and they end up paying a room tariff of 5,000 rupees per room that itself adds up to 7.5 crores in a day,” he added.
He asserted that the State government is knowledgeable about what they are doing and are focused, he said, “We know that the state stands to gain. We know that the local economy stands to gain. Everybody up to the Kong selling Kwai on the roadside stands to benefit when there is a huge footfall in these festivals”.
He however said, “But it is not the festivals per se that we ultimately put our stress on; these festivals only help us in branding Meghalaya as a destination which has a lot of USPs, nature, culture, music, climate, cuisine being some of the USPs. So I would like to reiterate that the government is on the right track and the way things are moving, we should be able to see that before 2028 not less than 40% of the total population of Meghalaya will be directly involved in the tourism industry”.
