Tea and tourism

For Assam, tea and tourism are totally inseparable from each other. Tea is yet to directly attract tourists to Assam. But it is a fact that the morning cup of tea reminds a large chunk of people the world over that it is the green gold that cheers them up every day. Tea – whether tea as a drink or as a garden – figures quite prominently in almost all campaigns of Assam Tourism. Visitors from outside the region, when travelling to various destinations, are captivated by the lush green tea estates and the amazing shade trees. Tourists often stop by the highway to take selfies and group photographs with the backdrop of a tea estate. But, with the lone exception of the late Hemendra Prasad Barooah, no one else in Assam has ever given serious thought to attracting tourists with tea. There is hardly any facility in the tea estates – minus the few locations owned by the Barooahs – where tourists can actually stay for a few days, and see for themselves how tea is manufactured. Yet, the numerous bungalows, some dating back even to the 19th century, can probably become money-spinners for tea companies, just by opening them up for tourists for a few months of the year. The Assam government probably can ask tea estates in and around Kaziranga and other National Parks to accommodate tourists during the peak months of December-January, thus giving them an additional experience and reason for visiting Assam. Tea lounges, especially on the highway leading to Kaziranga from the airports at Guwahati and Dibrugarh/Jorhat, can provide an extra boost, where tourists can taste various kinds of Assam teas, and carry home a few packets of garden-fresh tea. Tea companies which have developed the habit of often complaining of a 'bad phase', can also come up with innovative ideas, picking up from where Hemendra Prasad Barooah had left, to utilize their assets and facilities for promoting tourism as an additional activity. And, above all, all major tourist entry points in Assam – the airports in Guwahati, Dibrugarh and Jorhat, and the Guwahati railway station in particular – should compulsorily have exclusive Assam Tea lounges, like the one set up at the Guwahati Tea Auction Centre, so that tourists, immediately upon landing or arriving in Assam, get the best cup of tea as a welcome drink. At the moment, there is not even one single kiosk in the LGBI Airport in Guwahati where a tourist can have a cup of real garden-fresh Assam Tea. The Assam government has a Tea Directorate, which can work out a plan along with the Tourism department, and ensure that the LGBI Airport becomes in the real sense the gateway to Assam and the Northeast.