Department of Tourism and Art & Culture is gearing up for the 23rd Hornbill Festival scheduled from December 1 to 10 and convened a coordination meeting with tribal hohos at its directorate here on Monday.
Two representatives from each tribal hoho attended the meeting, except tribal representatives from Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO) area.
During the meeting, Tourism and Art & Culture adviser H. Khehovi Yepthomi said since the Covid pandemic had affected the festival in 2020 and 2021, the government will do its best to celebrate this year’s Hornbill Festival in a grand manner.
He also highlighted the positive aspects of the festival and how it had helped putting Nagaland in the world map of tourism.
While stating that the Hornbill Festival belong to all Nagas, Yepthomi therefore, sought support from the tribal hohos to ensure the festival was a success.
To meet ENPO leaders: He regretted the decision of ENPO to abstain from the festival and said discussion would be held with the organisation to seek its participation at the event, adding that the cultural traditions of Eastern Nagaland were the main attractions of the event.
He informed the gathering that through the Union Ministry of External Affairs, some international leaders were also expected to attend Hornbill Festival this year. The adviser further informed the meeting that about 1,25,000 domestic and 5,000-6,000 international tourists attended the festival in 2019.
Chakhesang Public Organisation (CPO) representatives expressed concern over lack of toilets in morungs and urged the department to consider constructing them attached to the morungs.
They also expressed concern over the construction of morungs at Kisama as some tribes had constructed concrete ones and asked the department to frame a policy for maintaining Naga heritage village.
They further suggested the department to put in more efforts in improving food and lodging for cultural troupes considering the distance they travelled from remotest part of the State to the festival venue.
Expressing concern over the ENPO decision to abstain from participating in the festival, representatives from Ao Senden said the essence of the festival would go away even if one tribe did not take part in the festival and wanted to know from the department whether the festival would still go ahead if ENPO did not participate.
Ao Senden also sought more focus on domestic tourists and not solely on international tourists, besides keeping Kisama morungs functional throughout the year.
The representatives also emphasised showcasing more traditions and suggested construction of bio-toilets attached to the morungs.
Lotha Hoho representatives clarified that the Lothas had set up a concrete morung since maintaining the same every year was costly. They however assured to give it a traditional touch during the festival.
Representatives from Garo tribe insisted that Garo culture and tradition should be printed in the brochures printed by the department since this was missing.
Issues related to fire safety, car pass, etc, were also discussed at the meeting.
Meanwhile, additional director Tourism, Veyielo Doulo informed that around five Southeast Asian countries were expected to take part in this year’s Hornbill Festival.