ITANAGAR, Oct 24: The Arunachal Tourism Society (ATS), a newly formed authority, held its Governing Council meeting here on Tuesday, under the chair of Chief Minister Pema Khandu, where Tourism Secretary Dr Joram Beda sought approval of the Governing Council for release of funds under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme of the central government in PFMS mode to develop the state’s adventure tourism and the Bhalukpong-Tawang circuit.
The Governing Council has members from the departments of Urban Development, Research, Sports and Finance and Rajiv Gandhi Polytechnic, besides the Department of Tourism.
Pema, as chairman of the Governing Council by virtue of being the Minister in-Charge of Tourism, approved the proposals in principle after taking inputs from the members.
He urged the Society to engage enterprising local youths by outsourcing services to them in the tourism industry, which will bring in professionalism as well as generate employment.
Khandu welcomed the suggestion put in by the Research Director for including places of religious and historical interests in development of the tourism sector by way of extending facilities.
The Research Director had suggested that facility centres and stays can be established in monasteries and viharas as well as historic places like Thembang in West Kameng, which are frequented by visitors.
Emphasizing on proper publicity of the state’s potential, Pema advised that brochures, souvenirs and magazines published by the department at the state level should be updated yearly.
The Arunachal Tourism Society has been constituted basically to manage, maintain and operationalize assets created by the Tourism Department over the years. It would also undertake promotion and publicity campaigns, besides organizing tourism-centric festivals across the state.
Tourism Parliamentary Secretary P D Sona also attended the meeting.
