Aizawl (Mizoram) [India], September 24 (ANI): Mizoram’s 2026 festival season began on Thursday with the launch of the State’s first ‘Pluck & Pay’ Festival in Tualte and Chawngtlai villages of Khawzawl district, introducing a distinctive community-led tourism experience that brings visitors directly into farms, connects them with local producers and opens new avenues for tourism-led rural livelihoods.
Jointly organised by the Tourism Department, Government of Mizoram, and the Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Khawzawl, the three-day festival, being held from September 23 to 25, is built around a simple proposition: visitors enter local farms, harvest fresh produce themselves and pay directly for what they pick.
The experience brings together agriculture, horticulture, tourism, food and community enterprise in a manner that allows visitors to experience rural Mizoram while creating direct economic linkages with farming households.
Speaking on the occasion, Lalnghinglova Hmar, Tourism Minister, Government of Mizoram, said the festival reflects a larger vision of tourism development in which the economic benefits of tourism reach the communities that host visitors.
The Minister said, “The future of tourism is not only about taking visitors to places; it is about creating value for the people who make those places worth visiting. We want tourism in Mizoram to create stronger linkages with our villages, our farms, our entrepreneurs and our cultural communities. When a visitor spends time in a village, buys directly from a farmer, eats local food, experiences local culture and stays within the community, tourism becomes part of the local economy. That is the kind of tourism we want to build- rooted in our communities, respectful of our identity and capable of creating sustainable opportunities for our people.”
The economic proposition extends beyond the farm itself. Tourism can generate value across a wider local ecosystem when communities are able to participate in the visitor experience. A visitor travelling to a rural destination can create demand for agricultural and horticultural produce, local cuisine, homestays, guides, transportation, handicrafts, cultural performances and other community-based services.
The ‘Pluck & Pay’ initiative seeks to strengthen these linkages, allowing a greater share of tourism-generated value to circulate within the destination.
For Khawzawl, the festival creates an opportunity to position the district not merely as a place to visit, but as a destination where the visitor can experience the landscape, participate in village life and engage with local livelihoods. Tualte and Chawngtlai become the starting points for a tourism proposition built around the strengths that already exist within the communities, i.e. farms, food, culture, people and the surrounding landscape.
The festival also reflects a broader opportunity for agro-tourism in Mizoram. The experience, however, extends beyond the farms. The three-day programme brings together traditional Mizo music and dance, local cuisine, handicrafts, cultural performances, Mizo recreational games and visits to historical and tourist sites, offering visitors a more complete experience of the region.
The objective is to connect the agricultural landscape with the cultural landscape that gives it meaning, the Minister added.
The timing is significant as Mizoram enters its 2026 festival season with a calendar that brings together different dimensions of the State's tourism identity. Following the ‘Pluck & Pay’ Festival, the calendar includes the Anthurium Festival in Reiek, Hnahsin Kût in Champhai and Travel Fest in Aizawl, while the wider festival season will also feature the Leitlangpui Music Festival, Winter Festival, Tlaizawng Paradise Festival and the Sakawrhmuituai Sunset Event, making the upcoming months an absolute delight for the tourists as well as the people of Mizoram.
Mizoram's growing visitor base provides an expanding market for this approach. Official figures presented in the Mizoram Legislative Assembly show that tourist arrivals increased from 4,27,302 in 2024 to 8,41,322 in 2025. The opportunity now is to ensure that this growth translates into wider economic participation across the State, Hmar said. (ANI)
Mizoram opens 2026 festival season with first ‘Pluck & Pay’ festival, putting communities at the heart of tourism economy
