- Tourism industry is economically important and grows rapidly. Assam is well blessed by Nature and it lays at the centre of one of the world?s richest biogeography areas. State has huge potential to attract tourist from all over the world. Sources reveal that revenue collected from tourism increase year by year and it directly help in economic development of Assam.
- Though Assam is a very backward state in comparison to some other states of Assam, yet it has the greatest potentiality to develop tourism industry. Assam has tremendous strength of tourism attractions like scenic beauty, cultural variety, ethnic mixture, and diverse flora and fauna. Such wealth of tourism resources endows Assam with comparative advantage over many other states.
- Yet for a variety of reasons this advantage has not brought for Assam the preeminent position that it deserves. It is therefore important to give a dynamic thrust to tourism promotion and new directions to tourism growth.
Domestic and Foreign Tourist Inflow in Assam:
- Assam is known for its friendly treatment to all visitors, no matter where they come from. Tourist attraction includes forests, wild life and landscapes for eco-tourism; centers of pilgrimage for spiritual tourism; heritage, trains and hotels for heritage tourism and also includes colourful fairs and festivals held for leisure tourism.
- Wildlife sanctuaries at various places of Assam can attract the tourists all over the world. For example, the national park of Kaziranga in the district of Golaghat is a gift of Nature which covers approximately an area of 429.93 sq. km. situated on the southern bank of the river Brahmaputra.
- Herds of rhinoceros, vast grassy and green forests of the park can easily enamor any tourist of the world. Beside kaziranga other wildlife sanctuaries like Manas, Orang, Dibru-saikhuwa and Nameri can attract tourists all over the world.
- Moreover, the world?s largest river island „Majuli? will encourage tourism industry in Assam to a great extent. The following table shows the inflow of both domestic and foreign tourist to the state. The table revels a increasing trend of both Indian and foreign tourist inflow.
Revenue Collects From Tourism:
- Travel and tourism play an important role in India?s economy. Tourism is one of the enormous service industries in India with its contribution of 6.23 percent to national GDP and 8.78 percent of total employment, witness more than 5 million annual foreign tourists arrivals and 562 million domestic tourists.
- Assam is well blessed by Nature and it lays at the centre of one of the worlds richest bio-geographic areas. It is the treasure house of various economic resources. It has a rich cultural and ethnic heritage that can easily make it a tourist-spot. Tourism has the greatest potential for generating income and employment opportunities in Assam because Assam is not only characterized by the blending of flora and fauna it is also exceptionally rich in biodiversity.
- In Assam large numbers of people engaged in agriculture sector and which is seasonal in nature. So tourism sector can sustain the income of people because this industry has huge potential to generate employment opportunity.
- In Assam though the tourist industry is not well-developed but revenue collected from this sector increased year by year. The following figure shows the revenue collect from tourist lodges.
Revenue Collects From Tourism:
- Travel and tourism play an important role in India?s economy. Tourism is one of the enormous service industries in India with its contribution of 6.23 percent to national GDP and 8.78 percent of total employment, witness more than 5 million annual foreign tourists arrivals and 562 million domestic tourists.
- Assam is well blessed by Nature and it lays at the centre of one of the worlds richest bio-geographic areas. It is the treasure house of various economic
resources.
- It has a rich cultural and ethnic heritage that can easily make it a tourist-spot. Tourism has the greatest potential for generating income and employment opportunities in Assam because Assam is not only characterized by the blending of flora and fauna it is also exceptionally rich in biodiversity.
- In Assam large numbers of people engaged in agriculture sector and which is seasonal in nature. So tourism sector can sustain the income of people because this industry has huge potential to generate employment opportunity.
- In Assam though the tourist industry is not well-developed but revenue collected from this sector increased year by year. The following figure shows the revenue collect from tourist lodges.
Conclusion:
- The fact that tourism is one of the rapidly growing sectors of the world economy is beyond doubt. The development of the tourism sector not only increases economic growth directly, but also stimulates the growth of other sectors through backward and forward linkages and increases domestic incomes and effective demand.
- This sector can positively contribute to economic development of Assam. Tourism infrastructure is inadequate in the state, so by providing good transport and communication and making sufficient provision for accommodation of the tourist at and near the tourist sports with all types of civic amenities the states can earn huge amount of income from tourist sector.