Imphal: The Manipur government is hoping to attract foreign tourists to next year's Sangai Festival, organised to promote tourism in the state for 10 days from November 21.

A cultural tour operator based in London has contacted a local tour operator, K.B. Enterprises, for making all the arrangements for a team of tourists, mainly from the UK, during next year's festival.

Before deciding to bring in a group of foreign tourists, the operator, Tony Hastings, came down to Imphal along with his wife Annie Hastings to witness the events during the ongoing festival, which will come to a close on Thursday.

"The British cultural tour operator engaged me for pre-booking and noted all the requirements for tours by a group of foreign tourists in the next festival. The booking will include accommodation, arrangements to be part of the festival and also sightseeing," K.B Pangambam, the head of K.B. Enterprises, told The Telegraph.

Though some individual foreign tourists came during the festival there was no involvement of foreign tour operators till now.

During the couple's stay in Imphal, they took a stock of what the festival could offer to their prospective clients.

"Hastings is a cultural tour operator and naturally he is interested in the colourful cultural performances of the festival. He is satisfied that his team of tourists will definitely love to see the cultural presentations," Pangambam said.

Hastings learnt about the Sangai festival during World Tourism Mart, which was held in London in April this year. Pangambam opened a stall at the mart with all the relevant information about the festival.

Cultural programmes performed by more than 30 different ethnic communities is one of the main highlights of the festival. An international polo tournament is another highlight.

"Hastings is of the view that if the festival is promoted outside the country, focusing on the cultural aspect, foreign tour operators will certainly show interest and bring in tourists," Pangambam said.

He urged the government to take the initiative to get articles and photographs of the festival published in foreign travel magazines and also to take part in World Tourism Mart and similar events in other countries to attract foreign tourists.