Need for a policy overhaul

Arijit Purkayastha, Chapter Chairman for North East, Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI), feels that not only is there a dire need for a tourism policy overhaul but also a need to bring all stakeholders under the tourism board. He also proposes an inter-country consortium for the growth of tourism.

There is a need for an overhaul of the tourism policy, especially for the Northeast, both from State and Central governments. Assam is the tourist hub for Northeast India. Geographically and culturally, the northeast states have an interdependent relationship. From Guwahati, one could connect other parts of northeast including the neighbouring country Bhutan. Samdrup Jongkhar, the oldest town in East Bhutan, is just 110 kms from Guwahati. Hence, tours can be easily extended to Assam from Bhutan allowing tourists to visit two finest zones. As of now, foreign tourists use the route very often to enter East Bhutan, or exit out of East Bhutan to fly
out of Guwahati for their onward destinations.

Bhutan has, for long, enforced a strict policy aimed at attracting “high value, low volume” tourists by stipulating a minimum royalty of US$250 per day per tourist (excluding nationals of India, Bangladesh and the Maldives) and propose tourism itinerary wherein visitors can visit both the regions with fine connectivity that promise excellent tourist experience. For example, the popular birding tours in West and East Bhutan, currently conducted by Bhutanese tour operators, can be extended to cover a birding tour in Assam and Northeast which has fine birding habitats. Similarly, the culture and wildlife tours of Assam and Northeast that are phenomenal draws for foreign tourists can be combined with pristine nature tours of Bhutan. It is in this context that we propose the carving of an Assam-Bhutan Consortium (ABC).

Moreover, domestic tourism will automatically revive the northeast region if LTC (Leave Travel Concession) is extended by the Centre, which is valid at the moment till September 2020. A Central Government official can avail LTC to travel to Northeast, Andamans and Jammu & Kashmir in any airline, unlike other destinations in India where they have to travel by Air India only. Lesser-known destinations in the northeast also need to be promoted
with infrastructure sanitation followed by training the locals by the respective state tourism departments.

Registration of all stakeholders

Another vital point that is yet to be implemented is the registration of all agents and hotels in Assam under the Assam tourism board. Although tourism activities in Assam have developed in an unplanned manner, travelling to the region through a tour operator has always been important for a smooth journey. It will be more so even for local tourism, post COVID. On May 12, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for “vocal for local” necessitates the urgent registration of all local tours operators whose head offices are in Assam under the Assam Tourism department. This will enable monitoring and maintenance of tourism service standards. Bringing all local tour operators and hoteliers under one umbrella will be the key to making tourism in Assam a success as they will play a major role in benefitting local communities socially and economically.

(Views expressed are the author’s own. The publication may or may not subscribe to the same.)