The tourism industry in Assam is taking a hit right now as violent anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests by various oraganisations against the controversial Act continue. According to the State’s Tourism Department, Assam has faced a loss over Rs 400 crore revenue collection during this period.
The tourism industry in Assam has been hit by the protests over CAA with many prospective domestic and foreign tourists had cancelled the bookings to visit Assam and other parts of the North Eastern region.
December month is the main tourism season of the state tourism sector and all the stakeholders involved in the tourism sector are always eagerly looking forward to this season. The main tourism season of the state starts from the month of November and continues till the month of January. A total of 4,504 foreign tourists had visited Assam during the month of December last year and around 4.25 lakh domestic tourists had visited the state during the period. But this time, due to the ongoing protests and travel advisories by various countries, the number is down by 90% if not more.
According to the government official of tourism department revenue collection has also impacted due to protest against NRC and CAA. In 2018, the state tourism department had collected Rs 1,200-1,500 crore revenue and around 30 per cent collected alone in the month of December. In this month we had collected around Rs 300-400 crore.
He further said that if this type of situation continues then it will affect the next year also because this message has gone out that Assam is not safe.
On the other hand, Greater Guwahati Tour Operator Drivers Association president said that the tour operators alone in Guwahati had faced a loss of Rs 5 crore in last seven days during the violent protests.
Around 2,000 small cars associated with the tour operators are in Guwahati alone and all vehicular movements were totally halted in the past seven days. More than 5,000-6,000 families are directly or indirectly involved with the tourism sector and they have faced lot of problems.
