Nagaland's Hornbill Festival attrracts more than 78K visitors in first 5 days

Kohima: The first five days of the Hornbill Festival of Nagaland, an annual tourism event of the state government, has attracted more than 78,000 visitors including 1,621 foreigners, according to official data.

The 10-day-long festival that began on December 1 is being held at the picturesque Naga heritage village Kisama. Besides 1,621 foreigners, 20,659 domestic tourists and 56,115 locals have witnessed cultural performances of the 18 Naga tribes till Tuesday, according to data provided by the Tourism Department.

The highest turnout so far was recorded on Sunday, the third day, with 18,002 visitors witnessing the festivities. This includes 12,578 locals, 5,001 domestic tourists and 423 foreigners. Meanwhile, most of the visitors to Hornbill Festival, which has been billed as the Festival of Festivals by the state government, have expressed happiness to witness the programmes while several others also made some constructive suggestions.

"I brought good wishes to the beautiful people of Nagaland from the people of Colombia. Congratulations for such a colourful festival Hornbill," said Victor E from Colombia.

It was an extraordinary experience, said Sylvie Ouhdhi from France.

A domestic tourist from Chandigarh, Jatarjit Singh Sahi, said he felt great to witness "one of the best festivities in the world".

A local visitor from Dimapur, Moon suggested that the organisers arrange WiFi facilities for online transactions and set up mobile phone charging points.

Capt Eddy Arsh, trader and YouTuber, said, "The experience was fantastic. However, the parking space should have been more." Sohan from Bangalore, who has plans to spend all 10 days, said food is "slightly expensive".

Hewlal Upadhaya from Assam's Golaghat said, "Such festivals let us know about the Naga tradition and their ethnic culture."