Revival of Tourism Industry in
Northeast India with special focus on
Assam

Published on June 16, 2021
Ratan Kumar
Founder & CEO
2 articles Following
Tourism industry post COVID-19 in Assam
The tourism industry was the first to shut down and will be the last
to open up post this 2nd wave of COVID-19. The economic
condition of all the market players is severely hit and the support
from the government is yet to come. But beyond all this the real
problem is the inability to recognise the tourism industry’s potential
to add huge revenues to the region's economy by bringing about a
sustainable and inclusive development in the near future. Tourism
activities are very impactful in distributing the wealth and add to the
livelihoods of the people in remote parts of the state which have a
high potential for tourist activities.
While we continue to have increasing focus on agri-tech and healthtech we are completely ignoring the travel-tech play and this is very
evident from all the webinars and funding support received by the
travel startup community in Northeast India both from the
government, the startup ecosystem and the CSR activities of the
MNC’s in Assam. In lack of other industrial developments in this
bio-diverse region located on the foothills of the eastern himalayas
there is an urgent need to re-focus on making Northeast India an
aspirational place to visit. An integrated approach to promote
tourism in the North Eastern Region as a whole is the need of the
hour.
Potential of Northeastern Tourism
In 2017, Northeast India registered 77 lakh domestic tourists and 1.6
Lakh foreign tourists. Even if we ignore the foreign tourist and
assuming a spend of Rs 5,000 per tourist the conservative estimate
of the market size ranges in the Rs 3,000-4,000 Cr of revenue per
annum.
“Northeast can be a high-end destination for mindful tourism. We
can only deal with domestic tourists. Indians no more mind paying
for a calm and peaceful holiday amidst nature in the Northeast” Shyamkanu Mahanta, Northeast Festival
In the year 2016, as per a Nielsen report for the Ministry of Tourism,
India the adventure tourism market in Northeast had a total revenue
of Rs 1,800 Cr combining the seven sister states.
As per a Bain & Company and Google report Northeast travel
market is seeing strong tourism growth with a 84% CAGR for
Sikkim.
These numbers clearly show the immense potential of growth that
could happen if this industry received the amount of attention it truly
deserves.
Assam receives the biggest number of tourists in comparison to any
other state in Northeast India but if you look at its tourism website it
is evident that the industry lacks the focus that it deserves.
Meghalaya is moving at a faster pace in adoption of technological
development and already has a tourism app which has been used
very effectively for COVID-19 protocol adherence and visibility of
service providers in the state.
Proposal for comeback
A resilience-based framework for reviving the tourism industry will
be necessary:
1. Government response
2. Technology innovation and adaptation
3. Local belongingness
4. Consumer and Employee confidence.
As we make a comeback it will be very important to focus upon
sustainable tourism, society's well-being, climate action, and the
involvement of local communities in the customer journey.
Problems & Suggestions to the Chief Ministers Office, Assam
1. In Assam the tourism season lasts only for about 7 months
from October to April... unlike other parts of India. So MaySep will need a different strategy. Assam Govt is fixed on OctApr season. It will need a different marketing for the off
season and has to push for it. Places like Dima Hasao,
Bogamati etc are perfect examples for places with high
potential in Adventure tourism that could be brought to light
but unfortunately the marketing minds in the tourism
department are defunct. We got to focus inwards to boost local
tourism.
2. Innovative technology interventions required in the current
website of Awesome Assam. An app with a payment gateway
could help convert interest and engagement to bookings. It
would also be great to have VR video content so domestic
tourists can engage with it and take a physical tour once the
lockdowns are lifted.
Here are few ideas to think around:
1. Cultural Tourism - Experience traditional dances of Assam in
360 video.
2. Wildlife Tourism - Experience Kaziranga Safari in 360 video
3. Tea Tourism - Experience “Breakfast with Priyanka Chopra”
in a tea garden bungalow
4. Heritage Tourism - Experience Majuli and visit virtual
museum
5. Spiritual Tourism - Experience morning prayers at Kamakhya
Mandir
“There are several good community tourism projects across the
region about which we ourselves are not very well aware of. Maybe,
the NEC should map these projects for us to be able to promote them
not only within the region but to mainstream Indian tourists too. It
can also hold some familiarisation fairs on such community tourism
initiatives.”- Ranjit Das, President of Assam Tour Operators
Association
“Northeast has everything to make it a tourist heaven but where is its
marketing strategy?”- P.P. Khanna, President, Association of
Domestic Tour Operators of India
(ADTOI)“Thoseinthesectorandthegovernmentshouldfocusmoreonhi
gh-end mindful tourism in the region” - Shyamkanu Mahanta,
Organiser, Northeast Festival
“Our motto is, every project that we back must benefit the
community around the tourist spot. It must come from below to the
top, not a top-down approach... the government has to start thinking
of itself only as a facilitator and leave the rest to private players,”R. Lalrodingi, Advisor, North Eastern Council
WhyonlyKazirangainAssam?
7. Assam now has 7 national parks. Second highest in the country.
But Assam tourism promotes only Kaziranga. Why not others?.
Instead of being fixated on just Kaziranga, if the Government started
to promote the forest reserves of Assam as a tourist attraction and
facilitates the same via established IB’s and other forest camp
accommodation, we could attract so many people and at different
reserves.
8. Ministry of Tourism organises webinar on 'Assamese CuisineThe Gourmet Unexplored' MoT streamed the webinar titled,
'Assamese Cuisine- The Gourmet Unexplored' to showcase the
Assamese Cuisine which incorporates varied cooking habits. This
kind of shows and webinars need to be done more frequently and in
a targeted manner to reach out to the domestic tourist and attract
them to travel to Assam.
9. Tea tourism has a big scope! Not promoted at all. Imagine having
a remote workspace in a tea estate
10. Startups should be provided with mentors to help them build
effective business strategies and focus on making the traveller
experience better. Technology driven travel companies need funding
support as well as technical understanding that could be facilitated
from the tech community around the country as the present state of
technology adoption in Assam is way behind its peers like Bangalore
/ Mumbai / Hyderabad.
11. Loans for tourism and hospitality players: The banks and
financing companies are not lending to travel companies due to the
current situation. At the outset, the Assam Govt., must fully
implement the Assam Tourism Policy that was announced in 2017,
but till date the policy is yet to be financially approved and
implemented by the State Tourism Dept. The policy has certain
attractive schemes much to the benefit of the Hospitality & Tourism
organizations. When there is a scheme for Agri/Handloom/General
Industries/IT sectors, why is Hospitality & Tourism being left
behind.
12. The scheme also needs to be refined as per the present scenario.
There should be certain facilitation for “start-up units” or those who
are doing outstanding works towards “sustainable tourism”, by
rewarding them with incentives/awards on quarterly or half-yearly
basis. Plus for these units, the Tourism Dept. should introduce
“Marketing Promotion Schemes” in line with MSME schemes under
GoI. Plus marketing promotion should start from the home ground
and as such, Tourism Dept., in their websites of “Awesome Assam”
and on their parent portal, they should highlight the start-up units
and those working on sustainable tourism. The same can be
extended when ATDC organizes road-shows in Pan-India and
abroad.
13. In spite of having such a breath-taking river, little has been done
to promote river tourism. As such, this neglected sector is facing
multiple issues right from under-developed riverfront to nonavailability of permanent docking space with basic facilities like
electricity, garbage disposal, etc., and also maintaining the river
channel through periodic dredging by IWAI. The State Govt., must
step into this matter with Tourism Dept,., IWT, IWAI & PWD to
work on the development of River Tourism, that will open up
avenues for other alternative tourism like adventure, rural, etc.
14. Umananda Temple always holds a sacred significance for many
people and river tourism has over the years played a pivotal role
over here. But the Department should think of setting high standards
of the embarking & dis-embarking system by providing more
pontoons on the Umananda Temple site where the present system is
not satisfactory one considering the disturbance of water current &
river waves generated from the rocks of Umananda hills. A little bit
of luxury element in travelling to Umananda is missing with the
existing operators. As such we are lacking in offering our tourists
these facilities and restricted ourselves in the parameters of “Atithi
Devo Bhava” in spite of the fact that Dept. has adequate resources to
arrange the necessary infrastructure to hold a few more cruises in
Umananda Ghat and thereby add value to their revenue stream.
15. ATDC must bring in Industry Experts for webinar sessions on
topics like “sustainable tourism”, “bringing innovations in tourism”,
“digital leverage in tourism”, etc for interested parties. The session
can go beyond “one-to-one interaction” on the basis of a marginal
fee amount especially for “start-up” & “MSME” units. Mentorship
training can also add a significant value in this context.
16. The Tourism Dept., in collaboration with Pollution Control
Board and Municipalities Boards/Corporations across the state,
should jointly conduct awareness drive on periodic basis at each of
the respective tourist resort/camps/boat sites or on a cluster basis, on
how to make the environment clean, proper disposal of garbage,
reduce wastage of water, etc.
17. Sessions where stakeholders like State Tourism depts of NE &
India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) are present then it
will be most beneficial.
18. Institute such as IIE, Assam Startup must take into loop Tourism
depts & ITDC.Simple way is to enlist the Startup entities in their
social media platforms n web portal. They spend a good amount on
promotion and sites like awesome assam and it has a good traffic
inflow. Besides they participate in a number of road/virtual shows. A
big platform for promising startups to showcase their unique
offerings.
19. Forum where we can learn from industry experts on the various
facets of the tourism industry, case studies on the innovative
approaches,etc.
20. Government Tourism agencies could exclusively tie up with
travel startups for generating more visibility. DIPR is another dept
that disseminates a significant amount of info on assam.gov.in but
most of the information is non-tourism based. Could we not use this
to boost local tourism?
21. Oyo, Airbnb, EaseMyTrip, Yatra join hands; form industry
body for tourism sector Every member will be able to access all
CHATT resources and benefits, including participation in yearround programmes, signature business events, access to the traveltech ecosystem. We could reach out to these organisations for
business mentorship support to tourism operators, startups, property
management & owners.
22. Regenerative Tourism Vs Sustainable Tourism
“Regenerative” tourism is the idea that tourism leaves a place better
than it was before. “Sustainability,” in comparison, is leaving
something as it is so that it exists in a constant state; in other words,
not causing any additional damage.
As we plan for a new future of tourism, we have the opportunity to
rethink how we travel, how we sell travel and how we can help
improve the communities in which we travel.
Major Stakeholders
1. Chief Ministers Office, Assam
2. Ministry of Tourism, Assam
3. Assam Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC)
4. India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC)
5. Department of Tourism, Assam (DOT)
6. Incredible India
7. Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE)
8. Assam Startup - The Nest
9. Adventure Tour Operation Association of India (ATOAI)
10. North Eastern Council (NEC)
11. Directorate of Information & Public Relations (DIPR)
12. Tourism Startups
13. Tour Operator Association
14. Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI)
15. HNI Investors
16. Banking companies
About Me: I am Ratan Kumar, Founder & CEO, Encamp
Adventures, an adventure travel start-up incubated under the Atal
Innovation Center - Sikkim, Assam start-up program and Indian
Institute of Entrepreneurship. We recently won the award of the Best
Travel Entrepreneurs in Northeast India at the NERES 1.0 event
organized by Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship and Federation of
Industries and Commerce of North-Eastern Region (FINER). I am
confident that these suggestions could bring a fresh perspective to
the plan of developing eco-tourism in the state of Assam. I envision
“Developing Dima Hasao and Bogamati into an Adventure Tourism
Hotspot” in accordance with the sustainable development goals set
by the United Nations.