KAZIRANGA, Jan 15 - The year for Kaziranga has not been very encouraging till date as tourists inflow to the park and adjoining areas has not been satisfactory.
According to some stakeholders involved in the tourism business in Kaziranga, there has to be a proper communication and coordination between the Tourism and the Forest departments in Kaziranga as these two departments are considered the prime service provider agencies as far as tourism sector is concerned in Kaziranga.
During an interaction, one of the prominent stakeholders of Kaziranga, Photic Bora said, �there has to be a coordination between the Tourism and Forest departments of Kaziranga in every aspect. Many tourists at times become confused and the middleman takes advantage of the situation and charges excess money for both the safaris from the tourists�. He said that the State Government should take the initiative to persuade the other States of India to arrange special tour packages exclusively for North East India including Kaziranga. According to another source, there is need of government tourists� information centre at Kohora Chariali point so that the tourists can have the hotel room booking according to his or her budget.
Bitu Gogoi, a caretaker of a guest house of Kaziranga Wildlife Society at Kohora said, �one of the factors which may have led to a decrease in tourist inflow to Kaziranga National Park, may be the inappropriate decision of the State Government to open Kaziranga National Park in October last year because the moment the park was declared open, most of the tourists including from West Bengal rushed to Kaziranga to enjoy Durga Puja holidays. But unfortunately they could not see wild animals properly and the full trip on jeep safari was not also permitted by the Forest Department. This had greatly offended the tourists as well as travel agencies based outside Assam.�
A source from Assam Tourism Development Corporation( ATDC) in Kaziranga said that Gujarat assembly elections which were held recently may be one factor for a lesser number of tourists in Kaziranga as many tourists from Gujarat travel to this part of the country. Secondly, road communication to Tawang is very poor. And this may perhaps lead to less tourist inflow to Kaziranga because normally travel agencies include Kaziranga-Tawang -Shillong in the plans. As travelling to Tawang by road is not smooth, so naturally the travel agencies avoid this tour itinerary including Kaziranga and divert it to other parts of India.
Sometimes, the tourists even complain of not being providing any forest guard in the jeep safari at Kaziranga National Park. The authorities must ensure at least a few regular forest guards to accompany tourists in the jeep safari inside the forests of Kaziranga, as a safety measure.
