Tourism Circuit Development in Peripheral Destinations: Case of Tripura, India

Abstract

Amongst the tourism circuits in Tripura, West-South Tourism Circuits (WSTC) are the most revered tourist routes in the state situated in the North East Region (NER) of India. The circuit usually offers tourism products like archaeological/heritage, pilgrimage and eco-tourism for its promotion in the industrially backward state. In recent times, the WSTC has shown signs of improvement in terms of demand for and supply of tourism support services than ever before. The circuit accounts for the highest number of tourist influx in the last fifteen years or so and also is rated as the best tourism circuit in Tripura; especially when it concerns domestic tourist influx. Recently, South-East Asia sub-regional cooperation like Bay of Bengal Initiatives for MultiSectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), Bangladesh, China, India, and Myanmar (BCIM) and also Kolkata to Kunming (K2K) initiatives have opened the door for this landlocked bordering state to exert renewed emphasis on tourism sector. Again, in spite of potentials, the state failed to attract foreign tourists which are reflected by tourism statistics of Tripura for the last twenty years or so. In light of such developments, the paper explores potentialities of international tourism circuit development in the state of Tripura