GUWAHATI, Jan 20 � Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today stressed the need for sustained brand-building to put Assam and other States of the North-east on the global map of tourism.
�The potential of the North-east in terms of diverse tourist interests is much more than that of any other part of the country. What it needs is sustained focus and aggressive marketing,� Gogoi said while addressing the valedictory function of the International Tourism Mart, Guwahati-2013, at the Sarusajai Sports Complex.
The Chief Minister who later addressed the media, reiterated the State Government�s commitment to develop the required infrastructure with the Centre�s assistance, saying that the Government of India, of late, was waking up to the tourism potential of the North-east.
�The Centre has started to realize the immense potential that the North-east has in wide-ranging tourism products � be it nature and wildlife tourism, culture and heritage tourism, rural tourism, river tourism, tea tourism, etc. The International Tourism Mart � the first of its kind in India with thrust on a specific region � testifies to the growing importance of the region in Centre�s scheme of things,� he said.
Terming the large-scale participation of European and South East Asian nations in the tourism mart as very encouraging, Gogoi said that their representatives would send out a positive message to prospective visitors in their respective countries.
Gogoi said that the State Government was laying special emphasis on rural tourism and developing a Buddhist circuit. �We have cultural and historical affinity with many South East Asian nations, and we want to build on that,� he said. Eco-tourism, ethnic diversity and handloom and handicraft were areas that can draw tourists to the State in their thousands.
The State has been witnessing an increasing trend of tourist footfalls over the past decade, with a count of 63 lakh in the last tourist season, Gogoi added.