Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu called for fully tapping the immense tourism potential of the northeast and underlined the need to improve air connectivity to the region.

He said that eco-tourism and cultural tourism can become the mainstay of development in the northeast if the tourism potential was fully leveraged.

Noting the efforts of Central and the state governments in providing connectivity and tourism infrastructure, the VP said that improving air connectivity to the region can singularly bring a significant positive impact on tourist inflows.

Pointing out that India has 26 million outbound tourists every year, the Vice President said that one could assume that most of them would prefer to ‘travel local’ in the post-COVID-19 phase.

This presents a huge opportunity for North-Eastern states to promote their tourism sector for this domestic audience, he added.

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Urging the state and central governments to fully tap the tourism potential of the region, he suggested to them to consider the possibility of incentivizing travel to the northeast.

Virtually releasing the book Oh Mizoram, written by Mizoram Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai on December 18, the Vice President praised the region for its pristine natural beauty.

He further said that Mizoram’s colourful festivals, folk music, and energetic dance make Mizo society truly unique.

"Often called as Songbird of the East, the Mizos are blessed with a natural talent for music," he added.

The Vice-President said the whole of North-East region presents a mosaic of diverse Indian culture with its more than 220 ethnic groups and an equal number of dialects.

Referring to a poem on ‘Diabetes’,  the Vice President observed that a large number of Indians are in the grip of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity due to sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy food habits.

"In this regard, the people from the northeast, who live harmoniously with nature and eat a natural diet, can show the way to the rest of India in adopting a healthy lifestyle," he said.

He expressed happiness that the northeast is showing the way in organic farming and cited the example of Sikkim, which has become India’s first organic state in 2016.

M Venkaiah Naidu also commended the people of Mizoram for recording great social indicators in literacy with over 91 per cent and child sex ratio.

Mizoram also holds the highest child sex ratio with 971 females against 1000 males according to the 2011 Census, he noted.