Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi while speaking in international tourism mart in Guwahati said that marketing strategy has to change. "We will have to be in tune with the requirement of the present times or it is not possible to attract the attention of international tourists."
Proposing a circuit involving Asean and the neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar and China, Gogoi said there is need to involve these countries. "We can coin terms like Himalayan tourist circuit to grab the attention of the foreign tourists. We will involve experts to workout marketing strategy for us."
In innovative move tourism ministry has involved West Bengal in the whole exercise as Bengal shares contiguous area with Assam.
Assam Principal secretary tourism, H.S Das said leading hospitality chains including Taj, Marriot and Hyatt Hotels Corporation and Radisson are setting up star category hotels in Assam. All these venture will become operational in another two years time.
The three day long tourism mart which started on Friday was attended by 79 delegates and there was participation from 23 countries. The programme was organised by the ministry of tourism in association of state governments of state Northeastern states and West Bengal.
As the part of the first ever tourism mart in the country, the Adventure Tour Operators' Association of India held its Annual Convention on Sunday in Guwahati where Yes Bank Ltd is the Knowledge Partner.
Gogoi said this event has exposed Northeast India and will help in countering the perception that Northeast India is a disturbed area." We have got encouraging response from tour operators and we plan to make it an annual event. We will now market our tea tourism, organic products and rural life to foreign tourist.
He elaborated eight Northeastern states and West Bengal is cultured state. "However all of us lagging behind in pulling the tourist."