If the Meghalaya government’s proposal is accepted, Shillong will be the next venue of the India-Switzerland Tourism Meet in 2012. Mukul Sangma, Chief Minister, Govt of Shillong who visited Switzerland along with two tourism department officials to attend the festival held on August 5 and 6, 2011, said recently that a proposal was submitted to select Shillong as the next venue. In principle, the suggestion to hold the next meet was agreed on by officials of both the countries, present on the occasion,” Sangma said.
Various states of the country participated in the meet, jointly organised by India and Switzerland. There has been a 30 per cent increase in the flow of tourists to Switzerland from various countries, including India, which gives enough reason for India to tap the tourism potential of the unexplored areas of the Northeast, Sangma said.
According to a report in The Telegraph, during a workshop held in Switzerland as part of the tourism meet, Sangma presented the tourism potential of Meghalaya to the audience. After the presentation, Swiss officials told the Meghalaya delegation that the landscape and waterfalls, which were similar to Switzerland, fascinated them. “I told the people there that Meghalaya is just as beautiful as Switzerland, since the hills and the gorges are similar and I urged them to visit the state and the rest of the Northeast,” Sangma said.