Pratidhwani the Echo

A Peer-Reviewed International Journal of Humanities & Social Science

ISSN: 2278-5264 (Online) 2321-9319 (Print)
Impact Factor: 6.28 (Index Copernicus International)
Volume-VI, Issue-II, October 2017, Page No. 214-219
Published by Dept. of Bengali, Karimganj College, Karimganj, Assam, India
Website: http://www.thecho.in

Tourism Sector in Assam: Its Economic Contribution and Challenges

Purabi Gogoi
Research Scholar, Dept. of Economics, Dibrugarh University, Assam, India
Abstract
Assam is endowed with natural and cultural resources which can form the basis for a very
lucrative tourism industry creating employment and generating revenues. Though, it has the
great potentialities for the development of tourism, but due to very limited government funds
made available to the tourism sector and other various types of challenges, its contribution
is not so much encouraging. To encourage tourism sector in Assam, proper infrastructure
facilities, trained tourist guide and also proper cooperation and help of public, private and
NGOs sector is needed.
Keywords: Assam, Tourism, Economic contribution
Introduction: Tourism primarily relates to movement of people to places outside their
usual place of residence, pleasure being the usual motivation. It induces economic activity
either directly or indirectly. This could be in terms of economic output or in terms of
employment generation, besides other social and infrastructural dimensions. Assam is
endowed with natural and cultural resources which can form the basis for a very lucrative
tourism industry creating employment and generating income not only in the urban centers
but also in the rural areas. Assam can become one of the most destinations of tourism in
India because of its magnificent tourism products like exotic wildlife, awesome scenic
beauty, colorful fairs and festivals, age old historical monuments, lush green tea gardens
and golf courses, massive river Brahmaputra and its tributaries. Tourism activities in Assam
have developed sporadically and in an unplanned manner. Also due to very limited
government funds made available to the tourism sector and hesitation of the private sector
to invest due to various issues tourism promotion and marketing activities have always
taken a back seat.
Review of literature: Rizal Praveen and Asokan R. (2013) made a study on “A
comparative study of Tourism Industry in North-Eastern states of India”. Major findings are
the inflows of tourists are higher in Assam state and lower in Nagaland and share in Gross
state domestic product is also high in Assam. The growth rate of tourist’s influx is much
higher in Arunachal Pradesh. Density of Tourist population (DTP) and per capita Tourist
arrival is higher in Sikkim and it is lowest in Nagaland.

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Tourism Sector in Assam: Its Economic Contribution and Challenges Purabi Gogoi
Sikder Uttam Kumar (2014) studied “Tourism and Economic Growth of North-East
State” by collecting the data from secondary sources. Using multiple regression models, the
study reveals that the growth of NSDP at constant (2004-05) price at factor cost is not
satisfactory at all for the Northeast Indian states.
Subash Dr.T (2015) studied “tourism in India: Potentials, challenges and opportunities”
and it reveals that though tourism in India is a sunrise industry, an employment generator, a
significant source of foreign exchange, it faces various types of challenges such as lack of
infrastructure, lack of adequately trained and skilled manpower etc.
Objectives:
I. To discuss about Assam as a Tourist destination
II. To know the Economic contribution of tourism in Assam
III. To find out the challenges in the development of tourism in Assam.
Methodology: The present paper is based on secondary data. To study the economic
contribution of tourism in Assam, the data are collected from Ministry of tourism, Govt. of
Assam, statistical handbook of Assam and Regional Tourism Satellite Account Assam etc.
Moreover, various e-journals and books have been used for required information. To
analyze the data different tables have been used.
Analysis:
Assam as a tourist destination: An overview: Assam is a state of breath taking scenic
beauty. Its rolling hills, dense forests, green valleys, large waterways and rich bio-diversity
make Assam one of the splendid tourist destinations in the world. The places attracted by
tourist can be explained as follows –
(i) Nature –related:
 Bhairabkunda: It is a beautiful place at the border of Arunachal Pradesh
 Bhalukpung: A beautiful place of the side of the river Jia Bhoroli, famous for
angling and water sports.
 Chandubi: A natural lagoon, beautiful picnic spot.
 Dibru chaikhowa: Famous for wild horse, in Dibrugarh district of Assam
 Haflong: one of the hill stations in Assam with unsurpassed sylvan beauty.
 Jatinga: Near Haflong, North cachar district, beautiful hilly places, where birds
behave in a mysterious way, the local people call that the birds commit suicide here
or certain specific days.
 Kaziranga: It is an internationally famous national park, the home of great Indian
one-horn rhinoceros, tigers, elephants, buffaloes, deer, wild ducks and geese.
 Manas: It is situated in the foothills of the Himalayas, one of the magnificent
national parks in the country, the Manas River flows through it, famous for the tiger
project, a habitat for various wild animals.
 Orang: A wildlife sanctuary, known as miniature Kaziranga.
 Pabitara: It is a wildlife sanctuary.
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Tourism Sector in Assam: Its Economic Contribution and Challenges Purabi Gogoi
 Potasoli: It is situated at 38 km distance from Tezpur town. It is famous for eco-
camps set up jointly by the department of forest and Assam anglers association.
(ii) Wildlife tourism: Some of the endangered species found in the state are hillock gibbon,
the stamp tailed macaque, the capped langur, the golden langur, the pigmy hog, the clouded
leopard, the golden cat, the white winged wood-duck, and the like.
There are five national parks and eleven wildlife and bird sanctuaries for protection and
preservation of wildlife in the state.
(iii) Religious:
 Barpeta: It is famous for a vaishnava monastery.
 Batadrawa: Birth place of shri Sankardeva.
 Hajo: Sacred place for Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists.
 Kamakhya: Religious place for Hindus within the city of Guwahati on the top of
Nilachal Hill attracts thousands of devotees and other tourists every day by its
natural grandeur.
 Majuli: The largest river island in the world, seat of many satras.
 Surya pahar: It is situated on a hill surrounded by innumerable statues of Durga
Devi, Ganesh, Surya, Chandra, Buddha.
(iv) Ethnic Tourism: Assam has been a unique place on earth for the cultural and ethnic
diversities. The state is a homeland of various ethnic tribes possesses some unique features
in its socio-cultural like including customs, religious belief, language, cultural dress, way of
life, festivals, food habits, songs and dances which are different from others.
(v) Tea Tourism: Tea was first discovered in Assam in 1823 in British rule, since then tea
has become an integral part of Assam’s economy. Each of these lush green tea gardens in
Assam is a treasure house of exotic beauty of nature with colorful people. Many of these tea
gardens have polo fields and golf courses.
(vi) River Tourism: The state of Assam has an extensive river network. Brahmaputra is
intrinsic to the socio-cultural life in Assam. Assam has immense opportunities to develop
river tourism and water leisure activities, colorful canal barges, boating, luxury cruisers,
motor boats, dolphin shows, under water-world, water sports and lighters and more.
(vii) Adventure Tourism: The enchanting blue hills and speedy rivers of Assam provide an
enormous scope for the development of water based adventure tourism. Recently, some of
the adventure sports activities like rock-climbing, trekking, para-sailing, water-sports, river
rafting and angling are promoted by the Department of tourism.
(viii) Eco-Tourism: Eco-tourism is also a new concept, developed around the idea of
travelling to places of natural beauty, moving around and staying with the places of nature
for a couple of days. It has twin objectives of conserving environment and improving the
welfare of the local people. Assam has immense scope for eco-tourism. The state is virtually
free from industrial pollution. It’s green forest, blue hills, enchanting rivers are the basis on
which eco-friendly tourism can be developed.
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Tourism Sector in Assam: Its Economic Contribution and Challenges Purabi Gogoi
(ix) Medical Tourism: The rapidly growing healthcare sector in state capital Guwahati has
gradually started to attract international patients not only from neighboring countries such
as Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh but also from far-off countries, especially African
nations.
(x) Mining Tourism: The history of coal mining in the region of Assam dates back to the
later part of the 19th century by the erstwhile Assam Railway and trading company. Assam
will develop mine tourism in the eastern coal fields and oil fields of the state.
Economic significance of tourism in Assam: Assam is rightly endowed with nature and
has the appreciable possibilities for developing into a compelling force if tourism is
encouraged as a thriving industry, with cultural and ethnic heritage, the state of Assam has
gradually grown into a hub of tourist destination, thus producing abundant income and job
possibilities across Assam.
Table: I, Total employment in Tourism industries in Assam and India
Item Assam India
Total employment (In lakh) 121.11 5355.4
Tourism characteristic industries 3.47 234.2
Tourism connected industries 0.99 203.7
Tourism specific industries 4.46 437.9
Shares in total Employment (%)
Tourism characteristic industries 2.87 4.37
Tourism connected industries 0.82 3.8
Tourism specific industries 3.68 8.18
Source: Regional Tourism Satellite Account Assam, 2009-10
The overall workforce (number of jobs) in Assam was 121.11 lakh in 2009-10. The
number of jobs in tourism industries in the state stood at 3.47 lakh. This refers to the
tourism employment of the state. The direct share of tourism employment in total state
employment is 287 percent, as compared to the corresponding national share of 4.37% here,
it is seen that the tourist employment in Assam is lower as compared to the all India level.
Table: II, Indian and Foreign tourists to Assam and Revenue Earned from the Tourists
Year Tourist staying in Tourist in other Total revenue earned
tourist lodges accommodation like hotel etc. from tourist lodges
Indian Foreign Indian Forign In lakh
2009-10 25665 669 3869860 14030 131.63
2010-11 25831 594 4101616 15039 143.60
2011-12 26439 696 4381897 15964 184.49
2012-13 22057 711 4522609 16997 248.19
2013-14 23890 579 4420503 18507 191.32
2014-15 21092 422 4842734 19583 211.77
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Tourism Sector in Assam: Its Economic Contribution and Challenges Purabi Gogoi
2015-16 42988 1077 5599962 25243 1057.24
Source: Statistical Handbook of Assam, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and
2016
Here, the total revenue earned from tourist lodges increases from 2009-10 to 2012-13
and it reduces in the year 2013-14 and again it starts increasing and it is highest in 2015-16
as compared to the other years.
Challenges for the development of tourism: From the above analysis, it is seen that
though Assam has a great potentiality for generating income and employment opportunities
in Assam, but even then, no perceptible change has been seen in this sector due to some
problems. The main challenges are as follows –
(i) Lack of infrastructure: To attract tourists, there must be dissemination of information,
infrastructural facilities like good hotels and tourist lodges, affordable and reliable
communication network, clean and hygienic food and accommodation, availability of water
sports equipments and the like. Most of the places of tourist attraction are not by the side of
the national highways, and approach roads are in bad condition.
This is a strong discouraging factor, which works against a good inflow of the tourist. It
appears that the potentialities for developing tourism to a stable source of revenue are not
matched by proper policy and strategy.
(ii) Lack of coordinated Efforts: For proper development of tourism industry, there should
be proper coordination among all the agencies related to industry. But in Assam, there is no
tangible and effective coordination among the agencies associated with the tourism
industry.
(iii) Absence of trained tourist Guides: Assam virtually does not have any trained guides
in important places of tourist attraction. Consequently, as the tourists arrive at such a place
there is hardly anyone to satisfy the inquisitiveness of the tourists.
(iv) Problems related to finance: The local entrepreneurs in major tourist destinations in
the state are not getting proper financial assistance from the government, bank and other
financial institutions. The financial institution in the state are interested to provide financial
assistance mainly to the industrial undertaking. Financial institutions have their common
nation that state tourism sector is not in a viable position to earn profit. So, they are
reluctant to invest and encourage in state tourism sector.
Conclusion and Recommendations: The present study concludes that with the great
potentialities of tourism sector in Assam, it can contribute various economic benefits to the
economy of Assam. The employment creation through tourism sector in Assam is not so
much satisfactory and the revenue earnings from the Indian as well as foreign tourist also
not encouraging. For the development of tourism sector in Assam, the challenges should be
totally removed. Moreover, some recommendations can be put as follows –

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Tourism Sector in Assam: Its Economic Contribution and Challenges Purabi Gogoi
i. Tourism in Assam can be developed based on the concept of eco-tourism and geo-
tourism products of the state needs immediate identification and should have taken
utmost interest to restore and develop for attractive tourist destination.
ii. The problems which have been mentioned above may be solved by the cooperation
and help of public, private and NGOs sectors.
iii. Tourism infrastructure in new as well as old should be improved as per the necessary
requirements.

References:
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International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), ISSN (Online): 2319-7064
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Assam - A Swot Analysis”, International Conference on Advancements in Information
Technology With workshop of ICBMG 2011 IPCSIT vol.20 (2011) © (2011) IACSIT
Press, Singapore
3. Kalita Dr. Kamaleswar, Gogoi Dr. Mouchumi(2015), “TOURISM IN ASSAM- AILS
AND OPPORTUNITIES”, RESEARCH FRONT, ISSN (Print) 2320 – 6446, (Online)
2320 – 8341
4. Regional Tourism Satellite Account Assam, 2009-10
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North-Eastern States of India”, “IOSR Journal of Business and management”, ISSN:
2278-487X, pp.56-62.
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