Union Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay on Tuesday asked the northeastern states to step up their efforts to bring in more foreign and domestic tourists to the region.
The tourism minister also floated the idea of promoting the tourism potentials of the entire northeast region as a whole and asked the regional office of the India Tourism Development Corporation to rope in Bollywood personalities as "brand ambassadors" if required, to promote the tourism potentials of the region to the outside world.
"About 70 lakh domestic and foreign tourists visit various tourism destinations of the northeast region every year. However, it is a very negligible figure compared to other states of the country," he said and asked all the states to double up the tourist inflow.
The minister was in Guwahati on Tuesday to review various tourism projects and plans with all the state representatives in the region as well as with various stakeholders of the tourism sector.
The union minister also inaugurated the state's first five star category luxury river cruise - M.V. Mahabahu on the river Brahmaputra. The luxury river cruise built in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode at a cost of over Rs.26 crore will start operation from tomorrow.
Sahay also informed that the Government of India has hired the services of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to make a Northeast Tourism Destinations Action Plan and added that upon completion, this action plan will be the road map for development of the tourism sector in the region.
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