(a) whether there is any proposal for North Eastern States to have their own website to promote tourism;
(b) if so, the reaction of the Government thereto; and
(c) the major tourist attractions of each State indicating the number of foreign and domestic tourists who visited during 2002, 2003 and 2004?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR TOURISM (INDEPENDENT CHARGE ) ( SMT.RENUKA CHOWDHURY )
(a) and (b): All States of North East except Manipur have set up their own websites. Ministry of Tourism, Government of India provides financial assistance to the North Eastern Region including Sikkim for computerization including launching of the websites, with a view to enable online assess to the tourists about information on the tourist attractions of North Eastern States.
Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has also launched a website www.incredibleindia.org which provides comprehensive information about tourist attractions in the country including the NE States.
(c) : Details of some of the important tourist attractions and the tourist arrival figures for the year 2002-2003 are as under:-
Name of Important Tourist Tourist Arrivals State Attractions 2002 2003
Foreign Domestic Foreign Domestic
Arunachal Bomdila, Tawang Gompa (religious) 123 187 4372 2195 Pradesh Assam Kaziranga National Park,Sibsagar 6409 1953915 6610 2156675 Manipur War Cemetery, Loktak lake 221 89633 257 92923 Mizoram Aizwal, Champhai 259 29417 279 35129 Meghalaya Shillong, Umian Lake 3146 268609 6304 371953 Nagaland War Cemetery, Aradura Hills (religious) 657 14263 743 5605 Sikkim Gangtok, Monastery(religious) 8566 159342 11966 179661 Tripura Rock Cuts at Una- Koti and Pilak,
Fourteen Goddess Temple(religious) 2602 260586 3196 257331
Figures for the year 2004 are not available.