Assam plans Khushboo Gujarat ki like campaign

Aims to tap niche tourism potential like tea tourism

Taking a cue from Gujarat Tourism's successful and famous 'Khushboo Gujarat Ki' campaign that significantly raised the tourist footfall in this western state, Assam Tourism department too is planning to come up with own campaign featuring a celebrity.

Speaking at the sidelines of an event here in the city, Ashutosh Agnihotri, commissioner and secretary, tourism department, government of Assam told Business Standard, "We are planning to launch a brand campaign for Assam Tourism that might also feature a celebrity. The agency would be decided by June, and work on the campaign would begin by July."

He further added that once the campaign comes onstream, the state government expects the tourist footfall to double from a current 4.5 million tourists to around 10 million within the next two to three years. He admitted that the Gujarat campaign has been immensely successful in attracting tourists to the state.

Meanwhile, the tourism department is also planning to add at least 2,000-3,000 rooms over the next one year or so. Agnihotri said that there was a dearth of star hotels in the major cities, however, now there some new ones that have come up. "Recently Radisson has opened a property, while Taj Vivanta and Marriott too are coming up. We are also working on revamping our existing government properties, he said. The department has already floated request for quoation (RFQs) and is looking for private participation.

"We would be taking private players on board for operation and maintenance of these properties. We have around 79 properties in all at the moment," Agnihotri said.

Gujarat and Bengal are main contributors of tourists to Assam, the former accounts for about 12-15 per cent of the tourist inflow. The state is now also planning to tap opportunities in niche tourism, like tea tourism. It accounts for about 60 per cent of the national tea production and 80 per cent of the country's exports. Assam now plans to promote its tea estates where tourists will get to reside in the British era bungalows within these estates. There are over 800 major and 60,000 small tea estates across the state.