Assam Tourism Introduce Luxury River Cruise

To focus on aggressive marketing and infrastructure development

By Dheera Majumder

Assam Tourism has entered into an arrangement with Faridabad based-Far Horizon Tours to operate a luxury river cruise vessel, M.V. Mahabaahu on River Brahmaputra by early 2011 under the PPP model.

The river cruise will be targeted to high-end segment and will be operated on a revenue sharing basis between Assam Tourism and the private player. The river cruise is being developed with an investment of Rs 15 crore of which Rs four crore is funded by Assam Tourism and the rest by Far Horizon Tours.

Speaking about the development, Monalisa Goswami, Director Tourism, Government of Assam stated, “We have had river cruises operating on the Brahmaputra River. However, the new cruise will significantly add value as it will help elevate the standards of River Cruise Tourism in the region. It will also be the first offering for the luxury segment. We expect it to be the most luxurious river cruise in Asia as we plan to cash in on the experience of Far Horizon Tours who have operated river cruises at the backwaters of Kerala.”

The river cruise will have 29 cabins, spa and four decks. The river cruise experience will be offered at rates of USD 300-450. The state tourism department is also receiving queries for development of floatels in the Brahmaputra River. The river cruise is expected to operate from September till May with an itinerary for six nights from Guwahati till Dibrugarh. It will visit destinations like river bank temples of Tezpur, National Parks like Kaziranga & Orang, river island of Majuli with 22 Hindu monasteries, temples at Sibsagar and tea plantations.

Assam’s prime source markets domestically remain West Bengal, Gujarat and Maharashtra and internationally are Nepal, Bhutan, Germany, UK and Japan. In 2009-10, the state received 38, 95,525 domestic tourist arrivals and 14,699 international tourist arrivals. From the domestic market, the state has seen a growth in Leave Travel Concession (LTC) tourists.

The state tourism department now plans to revamp its image with aggressive marketing promotions in the form of road shows in Gujarat and Maharashtra and highlighting the destination’s adventure, heritage, wildlife, cultural and Eco tourism products. It plans to conduct familiarization trips for the travel trade and the media as well. It is currently in the process of releasing its television commercial and has updated its tourism brochures for B2C marketing from the state’s current tourism budget of Rs 45 crore, about 30 per cent is dedicated to marketing and promotions.

The central and state government have also provided incentives for the growth of tourism related infrastructure in the state. “The central government declared to provide a 30 per cent capital investment cost for hotel development of two-star and above category. The state government has also reduced Luxury Tax and VAT to trigger inflow of tourists into the state. Besides this, it will also provide subsidies on power and construction of tourism related infrastructure,’ informed Himangshu Sekhar Das, Principal Secretary- Finance and Tourism Departments, Government of Assam.

With an aim to give a facelift to the state controlled Prashanti Lodges, Assam Tourism is leasing out its properties on a revenue sharing model to private sector entrepreneurs. It has also tied-up with Don Bosco Institute to develop soft skills and inform about basic hygiene and tourist safety to tourism stakeholders including taxi drivers, restaurateurs, tour guides and tour operators of the state.

The state government is also in the process of coming up with a legislation for new development in the forest areas of the state. The legislation will define the number of rooms that can be developed in the forest areas, their proximity to wildlife sanctuaries and will lay guidelines on their operations. It is expected to be enforced by December 2010.