Guwahati:
Meghalaya has made it mandatory for tourists to hire authorised and recognised guides while trekking in East Khasi Hills district for safety, the deputy commissioner and chairperson of the District Tourism Promotion Society said.
The decision comes after a businessman from Madhya Pradesh’s Indore was killed by his wife during their honeymoon in Meghalaya.
The couple was presumed missing initially.
Before the woman surrendered to the police, reactions on social media alluded to the state as unsafe for tourists and tarnished its reputation.
The murder took place at an isolated parking area and viewpoint of Wei Sawdong falls in East Khasi Hills, a district that sees the highest tourist footfall not only in Meghalaya but in the entire northeast.
When the incident which later came to be known as the “honeymoon murder case” initially gained traction in the news and social media, some people with a large number of followers began assuming Meghalaya and the northeast in general were not safe to travel.
The owner of a resort in Cherrapunjee (Sohra) had told NDTV they frequently met tourists with questions such as whether it was safe to travel at night or alone in a private vehicle.
After the case involving the Indore couple, Raja Raghuvanshi and Sonam, some even cancelled their bookings, and many more expressed anxiety.
“Not a lot, but we got a few cancellations right after the incident occurred. A lot of people were worried about their safety and security, and asked us whether it’s safe to go outside. We had to reassure them that it is completely safe to travel here,” the resort owner had told NDTV, requesting anonymity.
