‘Tai tourist circuit’ proposed in Arunachal Pradesh

By Apekshita Sonowal

Arunachal Pradesh’s Deputy Chief Minister, Chowna Mein suggested in creating a ‘Tai tourist circuit’ apart from the Buddhist circuit in the Northeast India. The idea is to attract Buddhist devotees and Tai tourists from around the world especially from the South East Asian countries like Thailand as both the region share a similar cultural and religious status.

The DCM proposed the idea while addressing at the inaugural session of the second edition of the North East India Festival 2022 at Central World, Bangkok in Thailand on Saturday. In the session, he spoke and highlighted about the “the tourism potentials and investment opportunities” in  Arunachal Pradesh.

                                                           Image Source- Official Facebook page of DCM, Chowna Mein

The festival was inaugurated by His Excellency, Mr Jurin Laksanawisit, Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Commerce, Kingdom of Thailand in presence of Hon’ union MoS for External Affairs, Shri R K Ranjan ji, HCMs of Nagaland Shri Neiphiu Riu ji, HCM Meghalaya, Shri Conrad Sangma ji, Hon’ble Minister of Tourism, GoAP, Shri Nakap Nalo ji, Ministers from Assam & Mizoram, H.E. Ambassador of India to Kingdom of Thailand, Mrs Suchitra Durai ji and hosts of other dignitaries from both the countries & NE Region.

The three days festival was to showcase the cultural similarities between India & Thailand and the cultural diversities of North East India as a whole in which large delegates of Industrialists, Tour Operators & cultural troupes from NE India participated.

“Arunachal Pradesh has lots to offer to tourists in terms of adventure tourism, wildlife tourism, spiritual tourism, ecological tourism, cultural/rural tourism and leisure tourism because of its fastest free-flowing rivers and high terrains, rich biodiversity, dense forests with unique flora and fauna, diverse cultures and scenic beauties,” Mein said.

There are 26 major tribes and over 100 sub tribes of the state with their own distinct cultures and traditions. These tribes have their own festivals celebrated throughout the year which makes the region, a land of festivals and colourful dances where one can experience different kinds of tribal cultures and taste different local cuisines, the DCM added.

He also said that, Arunachal is full of places for leisure activities, it offers some of the most picturesque locations where one can spend their holidays, do sight-seeing, stroll around the beautiful nature, experience snow fall, camping, road trips etc.

Apart from these, he spoke about the religious and cultural similarities between Arunachal Pradesh and most South East Asian countries like Thailand. Buddhism is throughout the place of Arunachal Pradesh which is a common religious belief in Thailand as well. While the western part of AP i.e., Tawang, Dirang, and Bomdila is and the central part i.e., Taksing, Mechuka and Tuting mostly people practises the Mahayana Buddhism, the Theravada Buddhism is followed in the eastern parts of AP which is at Namsai and Changlang, he said.

“Apart from 400 years old Tawang Gompa of GelukpaSect and 400 years old Gompa at Mechukha of NingmapaSect, Kongmukham (Golden Pagoda) in Namsai district has become a popular tourist destination. Thousands of people mostly Theravada Buddhist devotees especially Thai tourists visit this place every year,” he further said.

He also said that apart from investment in tourism and industry, Arunachal Pradesh has a huge scope for investment in agriculture technology, agro-food processing industries and hydropower sectors because of the large-scale production of good quality agriculture products like Ginger, Turmeric, Large Cardamom, Oranges and Kiwi and its capacity to generate more than 50,000 megawatts of hydropower, an official communiqué informed.

“The state government is committed to making Arunachal Pradesh an ideal investment destination and is ready to provide single window clearance and necessary approvals in a time-bound manner to investors,” Mein said.

Moreover he said that in recent years, improvement in the road communication because of the fast development of highways and air connectivity in prominent places across the state have made the major tourist places like Pasighat, Tezu, Ziro, Aalo, Tawang and Mechukha easily accessible to tourists.