The Rang Ghar, a tourist attraction in Sivasagar

New Delhi, Dec. 26: Going by facts and figures, all talk of the “big leap” in Assam tourism may be “much ado about nothing”.

Although the state tourism agencies, in tandem with NGOs in this sector, are chanting the wildlife, golf, tea, adventure, rural and eco-tourism mantra, in the absence of a proper tourism policy, they could well be working at cross-purposes.

The recent Assam Development Report (ADR) states, “There is no tangible and effective co-ordination between the twin bodies of Assam tourism, the directorate of tourism and Assam Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC) on the one hand and the road and river transport system, run by both the government and private sectors, on the other.” The ADR was sponsored jointly by the Planning Commission and the Assam government.

The ATDC was set up in 1988 with the objective of boosting tourism in the state. It took over most of the tourist lodges, bungalows, hotels and the like, which had been under the control of the department of tourism. Since then it has been making efforts to promote tourism in the state.

The effect of the “haphazard” measures, or whatever is done in the name of tourism, is best seen in the total inflow of tourists to the state. For instance, out of nearly 2.7 million foreign tourists who visited the country during 2000-01, only 0.22 per cent made Assam their destination. Apart from the absence of a tourism policy, a Planning Commission source said the lack of co-ordination among agencies like the department of tourism and the department of archaeology in handling the demands of tourists in places of both historic and religious importance is a major source of concern. “Not only that, there also is no interaction even among the agencies whose purpose supposedly is to promote tourism,” he says.

“What cannot be fathomed is the absence of trained guides at important tourist spots, unlike in Sikkim where the tourism sector is well-organised,” says I.N. Singh, a Delhi University lecturer who visited the state last year.

According to the development report, though the tourism agencies have been participating in various tourism fairs and festivals, “it is premature to comment on the impact of such participation in terms of significant increase in the tourist inflow to the state.”

The report also underscores the need for evolving a state tourism policy on the lines of the national one. “The infrastructure has to be geared up and all the eight states should make a collaborative effort. The North Eastern Council (NEC) can also play an integrated role in this regard,” it states.

The annual report of the Union ministry of tourism (1999-2000) had also argued on similar lines and had put forward the proposal of developing the Guwahati-Kaziranga-Shillong-Tawang circuit.