Imlisanen Jamir
With the tourist season knocking at the door, there is optimism among stakeholders that the slowly improving COVID-19 situation will help resuscitate the sector. The global pandemic is still having a major impact on trade and travel. Small and medium-sized enterprises in the tourism industry are among the most affected.
The hope is that, if COVID cases in the State do not swell up again, the tourism sector can be revived slowly, starting this upcoming season.
For instance, the Nagaland Government is floating the idea to hold the Hornbill Festival this year with live events and not offline like it was held the previous year. This comes as the Central Government is looking to restart tourist visas and allow international tourists after a gap of one-and-a-half years. The State Tourism Department is also set to coordinate with all tribe hohos on October 1 to deliberate on the upcoming Hornbill Festival 2021.
Tourism has been one area where the State’s economic and employment metric has shown growth in. Be it State sponsored or community backed tourism initiatives, the service, hospitality and performance sectors have reaped benefits, especially over the few years before the onset of the pandemic.
Hoping that the pandemic is on the wane, when tourism does reopen, this is an opportunity to create long lasting synergies between public health and tourism in preparedness to future crisis and which contributes to confidence and trust. It is also an opportunity to relook at tourism strategies and make them sustainable.
Integrating epidemiological indicators in tourism, connecting hygiene with sustainability, and restoring trust through communication would address the public health concerns of tourists, employees and host communities and restore trust, transparent and proactive communication.
With regard to the economics and employment, this is also a chance to channel targeted support towards vulnerable groups, long-term support to small and medium enterprises, and repurpose tourism as a supporter for the community.
Another area that a renewed tourism strategy can reinvigorate is action to fight climate change and environmental degradation. This could involve capturing the value of conservation through tourism. While the reduction of economic activity during COVID-19 has to some extent reduced the pressures on the environment, there are many destinations where the conservation of ecosystems, protected areas and species largely depends on tourism revenue and operators.
Supporting monitoring mechanisms that would regularly capture such contribution and the value of ecosystem services through tourism at destination level would enable the tourism sector to capitalize on its conservation efforts.
Comments can be sent to imlisanenjamir@gmail.com
