DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM IN THE NORTH-EASTERN REGION

Ministry of Tourism as part of its ongoing endeavour, promotes various tourism destinations and products of India including the states of North Eastern region in a holistic manner, through various initiatives including promotional events, assistance to State Governments/UT Administrations for organising fairs and festivals, participation in exhibitions, websites, social media etc.

The Ministry of Tourism has been organizing International Tourism Mart (ITM) in the North Eastern Region since 2013. The ITM is an annual event designed to highlight the tourism potential of the North Eastern region for both domestic and international audiences. This event serves as a vital platform, bringing together tourism businesses and entrepreneurs from the eight North Eastern States—Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, and Sikkim—to foster collaboration and interactions among buyers, sellers, media, government agencies, and other stakeholders. The latest   ITM was held at Gangtok, Sikkim, from 13-16 November 2025. In addition to this the followings steps including the initiatives under various central schemes as under:

(i) Incredible India Digital Platform-The Ministry of Tourism revamped the Incredible India website as IIDP in September 2024 to engage the visitors across web and social media platforms. The content on the Incredible India Website is available in Hindi, English and UN languages. The website features tourism destination in the North East States to promote tourism in NER.

(ii)The Ministry of Tourism promotes various tourism sites and products in North East Region in the domestic and international markets. Creative posts, Live sessions, Tweets etc., on North East destinations are posted on regular basis on the social media handles of the Ministry of Tourism. In addition, the Ministry of Tourism also produces promotional material showcasing the tourist destinations and products in North Eastern States.

(iii)Central Financial Assistance (CFA) support for organizing fairs & festivals- Ministry of Tourism provides financial assistance to State Governments/UT Administrations for organising fairs / festivals and Tourism related events under the DPPH scheme. The list of North East States to which the financial support for organizing fairs and festivals has been extended is at Annexure-II.

(iv) Ministry of Tourism under the schemes of ‘Swadesh Darshan’, ‘National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD)’, ‘Assistance to Central Agencies for Tourism Infrastructure Development’ provides financial assistance to State Governments/Union Territory Administrations/Central Agencies, Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI Scheme), Challenge Based Destination Development (CBDD) for the development of tourism related infrastructure and facilities at various tourism destinations in the country including North Eastern Region. The Ministry of Tourism has now revamped the Swadesh Darshan Scheme as Swadesh Darshan 2.0 (SD 2.0) with the objective to develop sustainable and responsible tourism destinations, following a destination & tourism centric approach. The details of projects sanctioned under the above-mentioned schemes in North Eastern region are given at Annexure-III.

Ministry of Tourism implements the Swachhta Action Plan (SAP) in coordination with the Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti. Under SAP, the Ministry conducts cleanliness-awareness programmes, including in the North Eastern States. During 2025–26, 200 SAP activities were organized through IITTM, Central IHMs, State IHMs and FCIs under the following categories of (i) Tourist Awareness (ii) Students Awareness (iii) Stakeholders Awareness. Additionally, as directed by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, the Ministry of Tourism observes Swachhta Pakhwada and Swachhta Hi Sewa (SHS) every year in September and October. In 2025, 277 activities under Swachhta Pakhwada and 244 activities under SHS were carried out across India, including the North Eastern Region.

For effective air connectivity at PAN Indian basis including the States of NER, the Ministry of Civil Aviation launched the RCS-UDAN scheme to make regional air travel affordable, and the Ministry of Tourism has collaborated with it by extending Viability Gap Funding under the Champion Service Sector Scheme to improve air links to key tourist locations, including in the North Eastern Region. Under this initiative, the following NER routes have been included as Tourism RCS routes: Dibrugarh–Dimapur, Dimapur–Dibrugarh, Dimapur–Imphal, Imphal–Dimapur, Agartala–Aizawl, Aizawl–Agartala, Dibrugarh–Imphal, Imphal–Dibrugarh, Hollongi–Guwahati and Guwahati–Hollongi.

This information was given by Union Minister for Tourism and Culture Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in a reply in the Lok Sabha today.

ANNEXURE-I

The State wise Tourist Footfall:

ANNEXURE-II

State wise list of fairs and festivals for which CFA was extended under DPPH Scheme

(in ₹ Lakh)