Silchar, July 4: The Mizoram government has decided to upgrade tourism facilities in the state to woo both domestic and overseas travellers.Mizoram’s veteran Congress leader and tourism minister S. Hiato told this correspondent over phone from Aizawl that a three or four-star category luxury hotel would be built in the city to increase its tourism potential. A Tourism Development Board, he added, has already been set up to boost the nascent tourism industry in the state.He said the board had already been asked to draw up a blueprint for the development of the tourism industry projecting the state as an exotic destination for eco and adventure tourism.Chief minister Lalthanhawla is the chairman of this body while Hiato is its vice-chairman.The government, Hiato said, would now give priority to the hotel project, which would be established as a public-private partnership venture.The state government, he added, was now in touch with a few industrialists and funding agencies for raising the necessary outlay for this Rs 250-crore hotel project.Another tourist-friendly project, which the government has sought to promote, is a mini-golf course near Aizawl. This, Hiato said, would attract both domestic and overseas tourists. A private consultancy firm from New Delhi would be recruited to finalise the location of the nine-hole golf course and arrive at a feasible financial package for it.He said his department was now engaged in formulating a number of schemes to broaden the prospects of tourism in Mizoram.Hiato said the tourism board had already held its maiden meeting in Aizawl last month, and it had decided to refurbish all the eight tourist lodges in the state.At present, the annual inflow of domestic tourists to Mizoram is nearly 5,000 a year and among them the number of foreign tourists is around 250.
