Shillong, Oct 10 (IANS): This Meghalaya capital, dubbed the "Scotland of the East", is all set to host the third edition of the Northeast Tourism Mart from Oct 14-16, an official said Friday.

The tourism mart aims at promoting tourism in the eight northeastern states.

"The tourism mart is to create a platform for tourism stakeholders from Northeast India to showcase the region as a tourist destination and promote their products to domestic and international buyers," Mamta Kochar, director in the union tourism ministry, told IANS.

The northeastern states saw a surge in footfalls of foreign tourists in 2013, registering a growth of 27.9 percent over 2012.

Kochar said the Shillong tourism mart is expected to witness participation of 51 international tour operators and 13 journalists from 21 countries, apart from domestic tour operators.

"The international participants will include tourism boards as well as travel trade members from both ASEAN and SAARC countries," she added.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma will inaugurate the mart in presence of Union Tourism Minister Shripad Yesso Naik and tourism ministers from other northeastern states and West Bengal.

The event will include presentations, cultural evenings, familiarization tours around Meghalaya, including Cherrapunjee and Mawlynnong village, cited as Asia's cleanest village, and various parts of the Northeast.

"We will use the event to showcase Meghalaya and the whole of Northeast as a potential tourism destination. We will cash in on the participation of such a large number of representatives from abroad to promote Meghalaya and the entire region's tourism in a big way," said Rebecca Suchiang, a Meghalaya Tourism official.

Moreover, a B2B (business-to-business) meeting will be held Oct 15, which, she said, will enable the local tour operators to interact and market their packages to the International and Domestic Buyers.