From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: Tourism ministers of five foreign countries will participate along with Indian Tourism minister in the first-ever international tourism mart in the North East to be held here from January 18 next.
The mart will be followed by a convention of tour operators, to promote tourism potential of picturesque NE states including Sikkim, and West Bengal as an Eastern India tourism circuit.
Assam’s Tourism Minister Chandan Brahma, informed “Tourism ministers of five countries and other delegates, tour operators and hoteliers from 21 other nations have so far confirmed their participation in the mart.”
“Tourism minister of Government of India, Chiranjeevi and ministers from the NE states, West Bengal and Sikkim will also be participating,” he added.
The ministers of Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Bangladesh have so far confirmed participation.
The NE International Tourism Mart, being organized by the Ministry of Tourism from January 18-20, is being hosted here in Guwahati, the main city in the region and the gateway to the North East India.
The event aims at marketing will the NE states, including tiny Himalayan state of Sikkim, and West Bengal as an Eastern India tourism circuit on the lines of similar routes promoted in other regions.
Besides attending business meets, the participants will be taken out on familiarization tours of the main tourist destinations in Assam.
The 10th annual convention of Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) will be held in the same venue in Guwahati with a three-day programme on the closing day of the tourism mart on January 20.
The two events will be run back-to-back to facilitate the participants to have a feel of the wide range of tourism activities possible in the area.
Some of the participants of the tourism mart are expected to participate in the adventure tour operators convention too.