Centre opens Nagaland to foreign tourists

Centre opens Nagaland to foreign tourists
UNITED NEWS OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, JUNE 28: Nagaland, which was under a ``protected area regime'', has been opened up for tourism to attract foreign visitors, it was announced here on Wednesday.

For the first time since the Foreigners (Protected Areas) Order, 1958, international tourists will be allowed to visit this north-eastern state for a maximum period of 10 days, an official release said.

But unlike other parts of the country, single foreigners will not be allowed and tourist groups would have to be of four or more people, except in the case of married couples. The districts opened up in Nagaland include Dimapur, Kohima, Mokokchong and Wokha Foreigners would have to get permits to visit Nagaland from either the Union Home Ministry or Indian missions abroad. The foreigner's regional registration offices in New Delhi, Calcutta and Mumbai, Chief Immigration Officer in Chennai, the Home Commissioner in Nagaland or the state's Resident Commissioner in Delhi have also been authorised to issue permits.

In the past, even Indian tourists required inner-line permits to enter most of the north-eastern states except Assam and Meghalaya.