SHILLONG: Assam Tourism Minister Jayanta Mallabaruah participated in the Tourism Ministers Conference for North Eastern & Eastern States/Union Territories in Meghalaya’s capital city Shillong on Monday.
The conference, chaired by Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, focused on strategies to enhance the tourism sector across the region.
In his address, Assam Minister Mallabaruah shared the remarkable growth of Assam’s tourism industry, noting that foreign tourist arrivals in Assam have increased from 6,000 to 42,000, while domestic footfall has reached nearly a crore.
“Since 2016, Assam’s tourism sector has undergone a significant transformation,” he remarked, attributing this success to focused initiatives and government support.
Mallabaruah highlighted the need for a comprehensive marketing strategy to unlock the full potential of Assam’s diverse tourist attractions.
He underscored the importance of promoting Tea Tourism, Golf Tourism, Wildlife Tourism, and Religious Tourism, which hold great promise for the state’s economic development and livelihood enhancement.
The minister also addressed challenges such as the need for regularizing airfares to make Assam a more attractive destination for budget tourists.
He discussed ongoing efforts to develop luxury tourism infrastructure in popular destinations and the facilitation of homestays in lesser-known destinations under the ‘Amar Alohi’ scheme.
The minister also requested the Ministry of Tourism to develop a search engine that would assist tourists in finding local homestays, minimizing the involvement of multinational companies, which would benefit the small players.
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He underscored the need to address and reshape external perceptions of Assam, which is often viewed primarily in the context of insurgency and flood challenges. He called for the intervention of the Union Government to assist in this endeavor.
He also appealed for strong support from the Centre to further boost Assam’s tourism sector, asserting that every village in Assam has the potential to become a tourist destination.
