Sustainability challenges of Assam tourism

Assam registering 575% increase in tourists’ footfall is a spectacular achievement for the state and its tourism industry. Special emphasis on the ease of doing business and single window clearance for film shooting in the state are two key drivers behind the boost. The success story also comes with a reminder for the state tourism industry to overcome sustainability challenges, more particularly in respect of wildlife and nature tourism in iconic destinations like Kaziranga and Manas National Park and tiger reserves. Official data shows Assam accounted for 10 million of the total 11.8 million tourist arrival in the northeast region. This clearly indicates that for tourists visiting northeast, Assam has become the primary destination. Improvement in air connectivity besides highway expansion, bridges over the Brahmaputra, improved railway network have helped stakeholders in tourism industry to leverage the peaceful atmosphere to attract more domestic and foreign tourists from source and niche markets. Increase in tourists’ arrival has a rippling effect in the local economy. Apart from local travel, transport and hotel industry, tourists dining in local restaurants, buying handicraft items for personal collection, souvenirs trigger demand for farm produce such as vegetables, fruits and various food products, hand woven textile products and handicraft items of cane and bamboo made by local artisans. Promotion of home stays in rural and semi-urban areas have created opportunities for rural youth to become tourism entrepreneurs and get their share of increasing footfall of domestic and foreign tourists in the state. Prevalence of a peaceful atmosphere following conclusion of a number of peace agreements, success story of preventing rhino poaching have added to building up of the ecosystem for tapping state’s tourism potential by sending positive signal to tourists. The state government granting industry status to tourism sector is a great attraction for private players but lessons must be learnt from other states grappling with problems of overcrowding in some of the iconic tourist destinations. The state being located in a fragile ecological zone, allowing tourists beyond the capacity level runs the risk of causing irreversible ecological damage. If it is allowed to happen then in the long run tourists may turn to other destinations which will then make economic activities around tourism-related activities in those spots unsustainable and may trigger a livelihood crisis. Apart from reviewing impact of increasing tourism activities at iconic destinations and identifying new challenges from economic and development perspectives, roping in nature, environment, ecology, wildlife and climate experts is essential to ensure that environmental sustainability remains a key focus. Extreme weather events like large departure from normal rainfall also need to be factored in while undertaking reviews and drawing up roadmaps of tourism expansion in the state. Unusual rise in mercury level in the past couple of days is a new experience of extreme weather, quite unusual in April, during Rongali Bihu celebrations. Such signs of climate change impact and global warming due to carbon emission cannot be missed by policy planners and tourism stakeholders. This brings to the centre stage the issues of decarbonizing transport sector, energy sector, prioritizing renewable energy like solar, small hydro power, strengthening public transport system, river transport to remove congestions on roads and reduce emissions in development planning process of which tourism is an essential component. Sighting of tigers in Kaziranga and Manas spreads fast through sharing of photographs taken by tourists and tour guides on social media networks. This has boosted tourism promotion initiatives of the state government and attracted more tourists to these sites. While increasing revenue helps better management of the rhino habitat and tiger reserves, challenges of overcrowding cannot be ignored. Updating environmental impact assessment by experts and making the process transparent for other experts to undertake independent review will be crucial for long-term sustainability of tourism in the world heritage sites and other ecotourism destinations. Tourism entrepreneurs focusing on tourism products like visit to handloom and handicraft clusters, community fishing, traditional rural haats for showcasing the state and the region as natural organic hubs, tea plucking and processing, tea tasting experiences packaging it with rich ethnic diversity cultural practices can reduce pressure on iconic tourist sites. This requires developing a more comprehensive area-specific tourism calendar keeping in mind seasons and timing of associated activities. Spectacular tourism growth in the state is indicating of tourism entrepreneurs and local stakeholders among transporters, farmers, weavers, artisans, hotel and restaurants building capacity to cater to increasing tourists’ arrival. Building capacity of these stakeholders in addressing the issues of sustainability is crucial to help them understand the challenges brought by climate change impact and how this can be mitigated by lending support to decarbonizing solutions to tourism sector. Growth in tourism industry in Assam has unlocked the door of economic opportunities for many households but sustainability issues remain the key challenge for the stakeholders.