International tourism mart begins in Guwahati

GUWAHATI: The biggest-ever international tourism mart of India kicked off in the city on Friday evening. To be formally inaugurated by Assam governor JBPatnaik in the presence of Union tourism minister K Chiranjeevi on Saturday, the international tourist extravaganza will see participation of delegates from as many as 23 countries.
About 85 buyer delegates from 23 countries, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Japan, Korea, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, UK and USA have confirmed their participation in the mart.
"This is a good day for us that the international tourism extravaganza, organized with the view of highlighting the eight northeastern states and West Bengal, is going to begin today. In this international mart, we are mainly concentrating on people from travel trade, tour operators, hoteliers so that they can disseminate tourism prospects among their countrymen in this part of India," said Parvez Dewan, the secretary of the Union tourism ministry, while addressing the media here on Friday.
He added that two tourism ministers and many officers from the five countries have already landed in Guwahati for the occasion. The celebrations of the tourism mart will commence at Sarusajai Stadium here from Friday evening, though the mart will be formally inaugurated on Saturday. Dewan added that foreign guests will be served traditional cuisines from the northeast and cultural gifts.
He termed the nine states that have been given focus in the mart as "Paradise Unexplored". The three-day tourism extravaganza has been organized by the union ministry of tourism with Assam as the host state.
Dewan appealed to public who are willing to participate in the mart to come in traditional attire which, he said, will give a traditional fervour to the international extravaganza. Principal secretary of the state tourism department, Himanshu Sekhar Das, said 100 dancers will perform the tradition Bhortal dance of Barpeta district on Saturday. Moreover, about 600 traditional artists will take part in a cultural rally in the heart of the city on Saturday.
Apart from taking the tourists for sightseeing along the Brahmaputra, Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary and other tourist hotspots around Guwahati, the foreign delegates will travel to the northeastern states on post-mart familiarization tours between January 21 and 28. On Sunday, a conference on adventure tourism will also be held.