Assam to Appoint Bollywood Personality as Brand Ambassador

Mumbai, Sep 5 : After Gujarat, now it is Assam's turn to look towards Bollywood to sell its brand of tourism.

The northeastern state's tourism authorities have appointed a consultant to head-hunt a Bollywood celebrity to promote its tourism among travel buffs in a big way, a top official said.

"We have recently engaged an acclaimed film director, Jahnu Barua to advice us on the appointment of a brand ambassador to promote tourism in a big way," Assam Government's Principal Secretary, (Finance and Tourism), Himangshu Sekhar Das, told PTI here.

The state is looking at someone from Bollywood to endorse the brand, Das said, adding, efforts were on to rope-in the ambassador by October. Assam's USP is that besides being the gateway to the northeast, it boasts of two UNESCO World Heritage sites -- Kaziranga National Park and Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, he said.

Besides, the state also offers a wide range of choices like wildlife and tea and golf tourism. There are also many religious and culture centres, he said.

"We now plan to hit the market in a big way and attract more domestic and international tourists to the state," Das said, adding in the international segment, Germany, the UK and the US were some of the big markets for the state.