Sheekha Bureau
Port Blair, Dec 26: It seems that the proposal of renaming the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has not gone down well with the Islanders. The social media is flooded with negative reactions in this issue.
Many People of Andaman and Nicobar islands are offended mainly because before such a major move the Administration neither consulted prominent citizens of these islands nor asked for public views. Most importantly the news reached to Islanders from National Media.
Many people attached to Tourism business, who have spent thousands of rupees on the brand names ‘Havelock Island’ and ‘Neil Island’ for online promotion of tourism worldwide, are worst affected as whatever they have achieved since last many years will be a total waste after these name changes. “Does Administration has any idea, how much expensive Search Engine Optimization is, these days?” questioned a local tour operator.
Moreover, it took several decades to build ‘Havelock’ and ‘Neil’ brand names for Andaman Tourism and now people fear that after these name changes it will take several more years to build new brand names.
Meanwhile, Andaman and Nicobar Hotelier Association has also expressed reservation in this matter.
In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister of India, the President of ANHA, Mr. G Bhasker wrote that “We have reservation in changing the name of the tourist destination like Havelock, Neil, Ross Island, Viper Island, Jolly Boy, North Bay, Red Skin, etc. These Islands are synonymous with tourism since the last view decades. The changing of name of these islands, after having created a strong brand will cause immense loss to tourism and to the local youth involved in tourism,” Mr. G Bhasker said.
The ANHA requested the PM to name the lesser known islands and also newly discovered islands in the name of freedom fighters.
“Alternately, even the Diglipur group of islands can also be considered for renaming. In light of the above mentioned facts, we kindly request you to have a relook on the proposal for renaming of Islands, specifically Havelock and Neil Islands,” Mr. Bhasker added.
