8th NE Festival to be hybrid

The annual North East Festival will now take place on December 19-20, 2020 at Radisson Blu Hotel, Guwahati and will also be relayed live on social media channels. Promotions are already underway.

Hazel Jain

The North East Festival (NEF) that is an annual event being conducted in New Delhi every year will see a change in venue and style this year. Arijit Purkayastha, Organiser of NEF Guwahati and Chapter Chairman for North East, ADTOI, says, “The North East Festival has been organised in Delhi every year and it has been attended by lakhs of people and gets extensive focus in national media. However, this year the pandemic has ensured that we are unable to organise the grand festival as we did in the past. But, it also offers us an opportunity to showcase Northeast across India on digital platforms, especially in metro cities of India, to create awareness about the region.”

Over the years, NEF has helped in developing a positive perception about the region and in creating an understanding amongst different sections of people, Purkayastha adds. “It has also helped to promote tourism and entrepreneurship in the region. With inputs from our stakeholders, we propose to organise the eighth edition of North East Festival on December 19-20, 2020 at Radisson Blu Hotel, Guwahati. The festival will be highlighted through the popular North East Festival Facebook Page and YouTube Channel across the country. Special promotions are being done in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Chennai to attract people to watch the festival digitally,” he reveals. NEF this year will focus on highlighting the major issues of the region. Dr Jitendra Singh, Hon’ble DoNER Minister, has consented to be the event’s Chief Guest.

Seminar with the states

Part of the festival is also a seminar on December 20, 2020 at 11 am titled ‘North East India as the Ideal Destination for Tourism Post Covid’.

It will be attended by the state tourism departments of the Northeast region, NEC, as well as major tour operators of the region as well as the rest of India.