The central celebration for the World Tourism Day 2021 was organised in the premises of the Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra today. Relief packages were announced for both the registered tour operators as well as tour guides in the state of Assam.
The chief minister announced that all the registered tour operators in the state will receive an one time grant of Rs. 2 lakhs. This amount will help these businesses to pay the necessary dues like taxes, license fees and other pending bill even partially, if not fully, for the past year. A total of 142 beneficiaries will avail this facility given by the government.
Similarly all the registered tourist guides will be paid an one time grant of Rs. 25000 each to take care of their expanses atleast partially. 605 tour guides are entitled for this relief package.
Speaking to Discover East, one of the members of the Tour Operators Association of Assam said that they are very grateful and happy about the grant. He also mentioned the long efforts of the organisation towards requesting the state government to support the tourism sector.
The tourism sector of the state is highly seasonal in nature and it has been almost closed since the starting of the CAA related protests towards the end of 2019. Although there were small windows of openings in between, these could hardly compensate for the lockdown induced losses for almost two tourist sessions.
The chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma also reveled the Aparup Assam. It is a directory of new and unexplored tourist destinations in the state of Assam.
