NE remains a seasonal destination
Speaks to Debjit Dutta, Chairman-adtoi, West Bengal and North- East chapter to understand the milestones achieved and the challenges faced in the last one year
Citing a recent example, Dutta reveals, “Tourist transportation in the state has always been an area of grave concern for the private touroperators. Recently, there had been a tripartite meeting between the Department of Transport- Government of West Bengal, Department of Tourism-Government of West Bengal and representatives of different tourism associations. The meeting addressed the operational problems related to the tourist transportation in the state. This has resulted in the drafting of a new policy on All-Bengal Contact Carriage permit exclusively for the inbound tour-operators. It was indeed a great achievement for ADTOI to be a part of the taskforce, formed in the said meeting, to represent the tour operators and finalise the draft proposal to offer high-end transportation service to the tourists visiting the state.”
Talking about spreading awareness about the tourism potential of Bengal and the Northeast, Dutta laments, “Unfortunately, the products and circuits of the Northeast have not been properly promoted or marked in the India domestic tourist market, due to lack of awareness. It has always been considered as a seasonal destination for the price sensitive mass domestic market. That is the reason why 80 per cent of the destinations of the region are still unexplored. Going above the seasonal price war in very few conventional destinations of West Bengal and North East, ADTOI members have always been encouraged to promote innovative and quality domestic products with the highest level of service standard across the entire unexplored and less-explored destinations of the region.”
The B2B alliance is of utmost importance for the chapter. “A major portion of the domestic incoming traffic from the national B2B to this region has been operated by our members. Some of our members have been extremely innovative in terms of new product development focusing on specific national source markets across the country,” he adds. Tourism
has been one of the key priority sectors for the West Bengal Government. There have been significant efforts made by the State Tourism Department in the recent past to develop tourism in the state, Dutta says. “Since the inception of this chapter, ADTOI has been actively involved in the state’s consistent effort towards brandbuilding, product and infrastructural development and promotion.”