Kohima, Dec 15: The famous Hornbill festival of Nagaland witnessed 1.54 lakh visitors this year in the scenic heritage village of Kisama.
The visitors comprised both foreign and domestic tourists for the 10-day extravaganza in Nagaland that commenced on December 1.
The Hornbill festival serves as a vibrant showcase of Nagaland’s deep-rooted traditions, cultural heritage, and ethnic diversity, capturing the essence of the state in all its grandeur.
The festival serves as an annual tourism promotion initiative by the Nagaland government and is recognised as the festival of festivals.
The Nagaland tourism department reported overall footfall at 1,54,057, an increase of 13,758 tourists compared to last year.
Among these, there were 1,14,860 locals, 37,089 domestic tourists, and 2108 foreigners. The count of foreign visitors witnessed a significant surge, doubling from 1026 in 2022 to 2108 this year.
Hornbill Festival is a “Festival of Festivals”. All tribes come together and display their cultures, dances, music and create an extravaganza of festivities. The festival is named after the forest dwelling Indian hornbill.
The beautiful bird is mentioned in the folklore of almost all tribes of the state.As the common theme, the festival is named so.
This Festival provides the amazing opportunity to experience Nagaland’s diversity of food, handicrafts, traditional songs, dances and customs.
