MAM
Assam Tourism to spend Rs 15 crore towards marketing and brand building
BENGALURU: In a bid to attract more domestic tourists to the state, Assam’s Tourism Department plans to spend around Rs 15 crore towards a 360 degree campaign that will include television commercials over the next six months or so. The department has already shortlisted as few agencies and will shortly complete its selection process before the end of this month reveal travel and tourism industry sources.
“We are looking at print advertising, advertising at airports, on railway tickets, on social media, radio, television, outdoor, through roadshows such as this one, etc.,” said Assam Government Commissioner & Secretary, Tourism Department Ashutosh Agnihotri to www.indiantelevision.com. Agnihtori was a part of Assam Tourism Department’s roadshow at Bengaluru.
“We had budgeted around Rs 12-13 crore, but this figure can go up to Rs 15 crore towards marketing and brand building over the next six months. Until the end of the financial year, if, required, we will spend even more, maybe up to Rs 20 crore,” revealed Agnihotri further.
Exhorting Kannadigas to visit Assam, Assam MP Gaurav Gagoi, who made an impromptu visit to the roadshow, ran the audience through the route followed by some of his relatives from the UK who had recently toured Assam.
During 2014-15, Assam’s domestic inbound tourist flows stood at 45,00,000 while overseas tourist flow was at 25,000.
To tap niche tourism opportunities, Assam, which accounts for about 60 per cent of the national tea production and 80 per cent of the country’s export, will promote its tea estates making way for travelers to enjoy and experience the craft of tea making. Tourists will get to reside in the quintessential British era bungalows within the estates, enjoy their cuppa and delve into the history behind this industry. There are close to 800 major and 60,000 small tea estates spread across 300,000 hectares in Assam employing 17 per cent of the state’s workforce.
An added attraction will be the “tea-tees” or golf courses in tea estates which are a class of their own. There are approximately 20 such zones in Assam. As part of legacy of the British planters of yesteryears, besides very classic clubhouses for post-golf sessions, some estates even house airstrips for tourists to arrive and take off in chartered aircrafts.
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
