Skip to content Skip to navigation

The tourism boom

The tourism sector of Assam is a boom waiting to happen. Picturesque landscape, cultural heritage, historical monuments and artifacts all are in abundance here albeit in various stages of neglect. A little effort on the part of the government and people can turn the state into a tourist hub.

Many steps are in the pipeline to give the all important push to the fledging tourism industry of the state. One such project jointly funded by the state government and the Centre promises to give a new lease of lie to the neglected Ahom era monuments in Siva sagar district, a project which was initiated by Hemoprava Saikia the chairperson of the Assam Tourism Development Corporation. The budget of the project is estimated at Rs 5 crore of which the centre will pay Rs 3.7 and the rest 1.3 will be payed by the state.

Another project that aims to lure the Thai tourists is banking on the Tai-Ahom link. It was in the year 1228 when King Sukafa leading a band of followers settled in Assam and today almost nine hundred years later his community the Tai – Ahom is being promoted as a tourist mascot. However the lack of a regular air connectivity is a major snag in this area. A weekly flight is not enough at least one daily flight from a major city of the Northeast to Bangkok is essential to give a right impetus to the tourism sector.

Moreover, Assam and the northeast is all set to get its first ever five star hotel. A joint venture agreement signed between the Dharampal Satyapal (DS) Group and Guwahati Municipal Development Authority(GMDA) was signed by the director of DS group PK Gupta and AK Bhutani of GDD. According to the memorandum of agreement the DS Group will invest Rs 100 crore and develop the hotel on a 27 bigha plot at Gotanagar along National Highway 37.


FINER and NEC are also promoting NE in the international level. The North East Council has launched a scheme for promotion of tourism in the region by developing infrastructure, holding of festivals and fairs, tourist circuit development etc. tea tourism is also being tapped to promote tourist inflow in the state.

Guwahati too is not lagging behind in the race to lure tourists. Sixteen heritage sites in te city will soon dazzle with festive lights if Dispur’s proposal of giving a facelift to the city comes through. The tourism department has prepared a concept paper to develop these sites which include Basistha Ashram, Gandhi Mandap, Saraighat park, Lachit park, Ulubari mazar etc.

In a few years we can expect that Assam and the Northeast will feature in the itinerary of world tourists as hot tourist destinations.

Comments

jaay's picture

Looks like a ray of hope is just smiling out of gloomy clouds, Assam is waiting to be explored. No place in itself so versatile, that it may sell itself especially to the tourists, who have no dearth of options in the entire world. Tourist wants a place that have some unique values, a place they can go back and boast ‘I was in that place, have you been there?” Isn’t it amazing that a State like Assam is still waiting for a 5 star? Better late than never, all I can say, but all things come along with a price tag and responsibility. People have to be in the right mindset for tourists, they should feel warm welcome, the moment they step in the land and all this is reflected in the eyes and body language of local population. I am sure tourism will bring in much needed geographical awareness in the world, the employment and the revenue which can be used for the betterment of local population. As usual there is lot of optimism in the article, let’s hope your words come true, and keep us posted.

Pages

Add new comment

Random Stories

Maternal nutrition support for humanitarian assistance

7 Jan 2022 - 7:25pm | AT News
Natural disasters like floods are devastating. Women are the worst sufferers during disasters. The impact of flooding on health varies among populations and depends primarily on vulnerability and the...

Shristi Bihu 2013

Bihu enthralls Assamese crowd in North Delhi

14 May 2013 - 7:48pm | Jutirani Baishya
boxonto aahile kuliye binaale Gose bone xolaale paat Kino axomiyaar bihuti aahile Goru saale logaale maat…No matter wherever he/she is, a true Assamese cannot stay away from Bihu. The fast growing...

Eye screening camp concluded at press club

8 Jul 2018 - 11:03am | Nava Thakuria
Guwahati: Most of the city based scribes need thorough eye check-ups as they constantly use digital screen for hours in a day. In a day long eye screening camp, organized EYE DOCTORS, a city based...

Serial blasts in Assam

30 Oct 2008 - 6:00pm | Nanda Kirati Dewan
Powerful bombs exploded in four major locations of Guwahati city today. The locations are market hub Fancy Bazar, Pan Bazar, infront of DC Court and Ganeshguri Chariali. So far 8 people is feared to...

Other Contents by Author

Strife torn Pakistan witnessed yet another blood bath when a suicide bomber detonated himself inches from Pakistan’s former Prime minister Benazir Bhutto after she was leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi’s Liaqat Bagh Park. A gunman also shot her on the neck and chest ensuring that Bhutto does not escape death for a second time. Bhutto had earlier escaped a bid on her life on October 18 at Karachi in which 140 people died. Leaders in Pakistan it seems are either doomed to have violent deaths or are banished from their native lands. Benazir’s father and former Prime minister Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto was hanged in this garrison town in 1979 after a military coup....
JBF (India), Guwahati Chapter inaugurated an Animal Relief Center for street and stray animals at Chandan Nagar, Survey, Beltola. The aim of the relief center is to provide medical help to the stray and street animals. However it also has a treatment cell where privately owned animals will also be treated and the donations received from owners will be used to run the Animal Relief Center.JBF (India) is an organization promoted by JBF(Scotland), a professionally managed organization working in the field of Animal Welfare since the year 2003. JBF (India) is a member of the Society of World Society for Protection of Animals (WSPA). JBF (India) is also a recognized by the Animal Welfare Board...
Star crossed Assam witnessed yet another assault last night when a powerful bomb planted on the tracks ripped off the luggage van of the Rajdhani Express killing five persons and injuring four others. The 2423 A Down Rajdhani Express was proceeding from Dibrugarh to Guwahati between Naojan and Chongajan railway stations in Golaghat district at about 1.06 am on the ill fated night of December 13.Though the police have not yet ascertained the identity of the militants however they claimed that Adivasi National Liberation Army (ANLA) militants were presumed to be behind the blast.A Central team is coming to take stock of the situation in the aftermath of the blast. It is alleged that the Home...
Just as the future of Assam’s handloom dreams had found wings in the form of the GI status of the muga silk a sudden turn of events threatens to clip those wings in the bud as reports of heavy loss in the muga sector starts pouring in.This winter the muga farmers are staring into eyes of a financial crisis with the failure of the Central Silk Board’s (CSB) summer muga crop popularly known as the Bhadiya. Officially the loss is estimated to be of fifteen crores this year however the farmers and dealers claim it to be around fifty crores. The cause of this calamity has been stated as weather related.Assam produces three different varieties of Silk viz, Pat Muga, and Eri or Endi....
The role of the media in today’s society is two fold. It reports the goings on of our society as well as tries to reform its social evils. But there is a certain section of the electronic visual media which also attempts to kick off a controversy by exaggerating their reporting which ultimately leads to a public outcry followed by its repercussions.The recent furor created by the Beltola violence where Adivasi rallyists clashed with locals is a direct result of such a trend. Moreover, it also exposed the gaping ignorance of the national channels regarding the region that is termed the northeast.The media’s attempt to sensationalize the incident of the Beltola clash reached...
Violence has revisited Assam with a vengeance. After a comparatively peaceful period once again Assam bleeds. The unfortunate incident of group clash jolted Assam out of its reverie and has triggered a kind of a chain reaction of bandhs, blasts and increased the probability of ethnic clashes. Ethnic clashes were an alien occurrence in Assam till black Saturday dawned upon the people of Assam on the fateful day of November 24.An allegedly peaceful rally of Adivasi Students’ Association demanding the status of Scheduled Tribes status of the Adivasi community turned into a gory battleground for local residents of Beltola area of Guwahati and the rallyists. Hundreds of vehicles, shops and...
Assam tea has reached new heights with the recent conferring of Geographical Indications label ,GI status to the Orthodox Assam tea. Orthodox tea is the second Assam product to bag the GI label after muga silk. The GI label is exclusive to only a handful of generically identifiable products such as Swiss watches, Czech crystals, champagne, Mysore sandalwood oil and Kancheepuram silk.There are certain requirements that the product has to fulfill before getting the GI status. The products should have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are special to that particular state or place of origin to qualify for the GI status.The GI status is going to be hugely...
“The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values,” a maxim which seems to have lost its true meaning in the rampant commercialization of education in our present day. Value education is an important rung in the ladder of education but sadly our schools and colleges fail to provide the same to our students. Today education has been taken over by the syllabus as education ends with the completion of the syllabus, a trend which in turn has given rise to a number of institutes and universities carrying forward the wheel of education in a mechanical sense.Imparting of knowledge has become a business to certain people who claim to provide various courses for...
Now I know you now I don’t that’s the secret game going on between the former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and his estranged party members. After splits, expulsion, reunions, agreements disagreements the former AGP chief is once again surrounded in controversy as his reputation is once again tarnished by the indictment in the “secret killings” case. Constituted in 2005 the justice (Retd) KN Saikia Commission of Inquiry on Secret Killings carried out between the year 1998 and 2001 after studying 35 cases of the nature of secret killing in four phases, in its report held Mahanta the then chief minister as well as in charge of the home department responsible...
They say “health is wealth” but in Assam “ill health means drain of wealth”. The people of Assam seem to have lost their faith in the medical facilities and treatment provided in Assam. The commercialization of the medical profession has totally disillusioned the common public. Minor ailments require a plethora of health check ups the cost of which burns a hole in the pockets of poor patients. However, the ones who can afford prefer to go outside the state for treatments without taking the chances of wrong diagnosis or pricy hospital bills. The government hospitals are the last resorts of suffering patients who brave the unhygienic, rat infested, garbage heaped...