Heavy preparations are underway at The Naga Heritage, Kisama to welcome the festival of festivals – Hornbill Festival – from 1–10 December. Significantly, the festival also coincides with the Statehood Day of Nagaland.

With only two days to go for the festival, Abu Metha, advisor to the Chief Minister, disclosed that the Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar will be gracing the opening ceremony of the Hornbill Festival and that state awaits to welcome the Vice President to one of India’s biggest festivals.

We are definitely on track for a successful 23rd edition of the Hornbill Festival, stated Metha.

He said the Hornbill Festival has been going on for 23 years and the department, the various agencies, the management groups and the social organisations who are part of this are well aware of the dynamics. It has only grown from strength to strength and it moves into an auto pilot mode so things are on track and we are on schedule to the biggest ever Hornbill Festival, he added.

Mentioning the key highlights of the 23rd edition of the Hornbill Festival, he stated that hundreds of events will be taking place and it is difficult to mention which are the key events. He, however, said the Hornbill festival is all about celebrating the culture and heritage of the various Naga tribes and that the Hornbill Music Festival is one of the shining stars of the festival.

Naga Chef, beauty pageants and music shows will be taking place all over the city and in different parts of the state, while other activities include fishing event in another district, the traditional sports wrestling, long distance Hornbill 10K, traditional ethic fashion shows, handicraft bazaar, food festival and many others.

“A lot of things for tourist coming in. You cannot do everything in one Hornbill visit. You have to keep coming back for more,” added Metha.

Speaking on the number of tourists expected this year, Metha maintained that due to the unfortunate incident in Oting, the state had to call off the festival right in the middle of the event last year which in turn had a very negative impact on the long-term tourism vision of the state. But we have moved on and we are looking at a very positive footfall from the tourism industry, he said.

Metha further informed that the state intake capacity is to the brim as reports are coming in from the Hotel Association and travel agencies that they are unable to find rooms for more tourists coming in.