Meghalaya: ILP will not affect tourist footfall, says tourism minister Paul Lyngdoh

SHILLONG: Implementation of inner line permit (ILP) in Meghalaya will not affect tourist footfall in the state.

This was claimed by Meghalaya tourism minister Paul Lyngdoh on Wednesday (September 27) while speaking to reporters in Shillong.

Lyngdoh cited Israel as an example to reason his statement. He said despite strict policies for visitors adopted by Israel, the country’s tourism sector is thriving.

The minister said that similarly implementation of ILP in Meghalaya will not affect the tourism sector of the state.

“Israel is a very difficult country to access by visitors, but looking at their tourism revenues it is among the top in the world,” said Lyngdoh.

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The Meghalaya minister further drew comparison between the VISA system of Israel and ILP system in various Northeast states.

“Their VISA system is more rigorous than the ILP in some of the states,” said Meghalaya tourism minister Paul Lyngdoh.

Earlier this month, Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma informed that the state government is awaiting a response from the Centre on the resolution adopted by the assembly for implementation of the inner line permit (ILP) in the state.

“The state government has been consistently following it up with the union home ministry on the issue of ILP and the state is waiting for the response from the government of India on the matter,” the Meghalaya CM had said.