Assam beckons
Boosted by increasing number of tourists, Assam is preparing itself to welcome fresh batch of tourists in the new tourist season.

Number of tourists, both domestic and international, coming to Assam is steadily increasing in the last five years. Boosted by this, the State is preparing itself to welcome fresh batch of tourists in the new tourist season starting from November.

State Tourism department is now busy about providing quality tourist amenities in popular tourist spots. At the same time, it is developing tourism infrastructure in more places to make Assam more attractive to tourists. The department is confident to meet the extra rush in the forthcoming tourist season. All five National Parks in the State and 18 wildlife sanctuaries and two bird sanctuaries have adequate provisions for accommodating greater number of tourists.  There are provisions for jeep and elephant safaris, trekking in the jungles and bird watching among others to meet the varying interests of the tourists.

Another important development is the finalisation of five sites spanning the entire State for promoting eco-tourism projects in near future with support from the North East Council (NEC). These are Dibrugarh, Naogaon, Kaziranga, Dhubri and Bongaigaon. The authorities further seem to be taking interest in promoting forest bodies of tourist importance other than the established one.

The efforts of various agencies like the State Forest department, Assam Tourism, Assam Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC) as well as quite a few private operators have been bearing fruit as is evident from increasing number of tourists in the State. But the most significant development in this respect is the gesture towards involving the private operators in the scheme of things. The ATDC and Assam Tourism, both are looking into developing meaningful partnerships with the private sector for developing the state’s tourist amenities like accommodation, transport, etc. This, till now, is working out well. Already conducted tours by private operators for several tourist destinations have started and continuing successfully. More like river cruises on Brahmaputra and few other adventures on the anvil.

The effort to promote other sanctuaries rich in invaluable bio diversity and endangered species has resulted in the attention being focused to Pabitora Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhalukpong Sanctuary among others. Kaziranga and Manas National parks are already in world heritage site and have enjoyed their share of publicity and attention. Though each and every National park and wild life sanctuary of the State has certain uniqueness in itself, in general they abound in some of the rarest species of flora and fauna found commonly in most of them. The other notable effort in this direction is the effort to popularize the festivals like Rangoli Utsav.

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