MP Bezbaruah of Hotel Association of India, on the untapped tourism potential of Northeast India

“The Northeast stands out as one of India’s most stunning and culturally vibrant regions, known for its breathtaking landscapes, rich traditions, and immense variety in culture, cuisine, wildlife and geography. Such variety makes the Northeast an ideal destination for new age tourists looking for new and sustainable experiences. Yet much of it remains unexplored—and the Ministry of Tourism had rightly termed the Northeast as the ‘Paradise Unexplored’. According to the HVS ANAROCK report, the region contributed about 0.43% of India’s domestic and 1.17% of foreign tourist visits in 2024, underscoring its vast untapped tourism potential. With over ₹10 lakh crore worth of infrastructure investments underway and air connectivity expanding from 9 operational airports in 2013 to 19 in 2024, offer a transformative opportunity to fully harness the tourism potential. Expansion of hotel accommodation will be a very important component of a holistic tourism development plan contributing to inclusive growth. Currently, the Northeast houses nearly 3,400 branded hotel keys, representing just 1.7% of India’s total branded hospitality supply. As the report says it is not evenly spread out. Therefore the expansion plan is most welcome news for Northeast tourism. It will still be awfully inadequate compared to the potential of tourism and hopefully pragmatic policies like Ease of Doing Business, licensing and approval procedures and incentives like infrastructure status, strengthened public-private collaboration, skill development will spur further expansion covering the untapped destinations. The Hotel Association of India is happy that its members are leading this transformation. HAI believes this region can become a key driver of India’s sustainable tourism growth story and can truly evolve into a vibrant, globally competitive tourism hub that delivers inclusive growth and livelihood opportunities and as always HAI will be fully collaborating with the government to take this dream forward.” – MP Bezbaruah, Secretary General, Hotel Association of India and Former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism