Hornbill Festival of Nagaland witnesses over 60,000 people since inauguration

More than 60,000 people have visited the Hornbill Festival of Nagaland at Naga Heritage Village Kisama near here since its inauguration on Saturday, a state Tourism official said Sunday. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the 10-day long annual Hornbill festival on Saturday. 

Altogether 63,032 visitors with 780 foreigners, 8,241 domestic tourists and 54,011 local visitors have visited the picturesque venue some 12 km south of the state capital, said the assistant director of Tourism department (Statistics) T Khakihe Sumi. The inaugural day Saturday had 19,953 visitors while Sunday it rose up to 43,079 visitors, he informed. 

The day was marked as National Dance and Music Day on the theme "Cultural Connect" organised North East Zone Cultural Centre (NEZCC). The visitors were treated with cultural performances from across the country including Odisha, Assam, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya and Jammu and Kashmir. 

Besides, the revellers also got the opportunity to join the coming together of the all the Naga tribes while they were engaged in the unity performance after the NEZCC show.

(With inputs from agencies.)