itanagar arunachal pradesh has been put on global tourism radar after being adjudged one of the winners of the lonely planet magazine india travel awards for 2013 on mondaythe state known as the last shangri la on earth was declared the second runnerup in the emerging destinations in india category in the prestigious award ceremony next to gujarat and jammu kashmir which were adjudged the winner and first runnerup respectively official sources said a panel of experts from the tourism industry including karan anand cox kings veena patil kesari travels deep kalra make my trip manju kashyap windmill holidays rajeev waghle kuoni travels shortlisted candidates in 42 categories which then invited votes from readers of the lonely planet magazine from across the world notably the arunachal pradesh tourism department was felicitated by president pranab mukherjee during the national tourism awards 201112 on march 18 for taking the incredible india initiative to new heights arunachal was awarded the best state for campaign clean india and also won a special prize for the most innovative use of information technology at the national tourism awards function the state tourism department had taken the campaign clean arunachal to all the districts to sensitize and educate all stakeholders including the youth ngos villagers hoteliers and tour operators about the importance of cleanliness and its impact on health not only of tourists but also locals an attractive jingle sung by two popular indian bands was used to attract the youth to this campaign in 2012 arunachal was adjudged the 4th best region by lonely planet bbcs globally circulated magazine the state was also voted the favourite upcoming destination by outlook traveller readers an outcome of a survey conducted in 2012 through a poll in january last the survey was an authoritative benchmark of consumer preferences in travel and tourism across 18 categories including hotels airlines and holiday destinations at indias first threeday international tourism mart in guwahati assam in january arunachals unique culture cuisine art and handicrafts had attracted a lot of attention particularly from 100 international delegates from three saarc and 10 asean countries sources also added that improved publicity methods employed by the departmentadvertisements in wellknown travel and tourism magazines the time magazine and hoardings at major airports have started to pay dividends