Tourist Spot

The State of Manipur, though tiny in size has immense scope for promotion of tourism with an area of only 22,327 Sq. kms. It is situated in the eastern-most fringe of the country. It has a salubrious climate, exotic greenery and rich flora besides the rich culture. The state can broadly be divided into two parts, the valley and the hill. The location of the valley is such that it is being surrounded by a rows of rolling hills forming preventive barrier isolating the state from the rest of the country.

There are many places in Manipur which can be developed as tourist centres. Keibul Lamjao National Park on the bank of the Loktak Lake, the only habitat of Brow Antlered Deer locally known as ‘Sangai’. INA (Indian National Army) Memorial at Moirang where INA hoisted tricolour flag for the first time on Indian soil, Siroy National Park at Ukhrul, Loktak lake, the biggest fresh water lake in the North-Eastern Region and Khongjom War Memorial, where the last war of Manipur Independence was fought, are the major tourist spot of the state. Besides there are other places which are worth seeing and which possessed immence potential for developing into a good tourist spot.

In order to facilitate the movement of tourist in the state, the Directorate of Tourism, Manipur has been providing various infrastructura1 facilities for incoming tourists. The Directorate is managing the tourist homes at Sendra. Moirang, Phubala, Churachandpur, Kaina, Khongjom, Tamenglong and Ukhru1 for accommodation of tourist visiting the areas. Hotel Imphal at the heart of capital town Imphal has been improved with modern amenities.

To improve tourism industry, various schemes/projects are taken up under the central prioritised schemes at different locations such as Tourist Home at Jiribam and Rengpang. Besides these, the way-side amenities at Kangpokpi, Khonghampat, Litan, Santing are also completed. In order to provide accommodation to tourist, the Directorate has also taken up steps for construction of Yatri-Niwas and Health Resort at Imphal.

Progress of Tourism:

The tourist traffic in Manipur is very encouraging. The arrival of foreign and domestic tourists during the year 2007-08 was 460 and 1,01,000 respectively. As a new guideline was issued by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India which considered only tourist who stay overnight as tourist, by excluding daytime visitors and also as some of tourist Home are presently occupied by security personnels, the total number of tourist during 2007-08 was 1,01,460 as against 1,20,835 in 2006-07, with a decreased of 19375 over 2006-07. The volume of tourists traffic and magnitude of revenue earnings in the state are presented in table which is given below as well as the district-wise tourists spot and tourists during 2007-2008 are also sown below.

Progress of Tourism in Manipur:
 

Source: Economic Survey Manipur 2008-09

District-wise number of tourist spots and tourist during to 2007-08:

Source: Economic Survey Manipur 2008-09