At least 120 delegates, including foreign tour operators and travel media influencers, were given a tour of two Ahom-era heritage sites in Assam — Charaideo Maidam and the Rang Ghar — as part of the 12th edition of the International Tourism Mart (ITM) in Kaziranga on Tuesday so that they can promote the destinations based on their personal experiences.

An official told The Telegraph that the delegation comprising tour operators and media influencers from outside Assam, including around 30 from abroad, landed in Dibrugarh in Upper Assam on Tuesday morning and were taken by road to Charaideo Maidam, the mound-burial system of the Ahom dynasty, which was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in July.

From there they were taken to Joysagar, where they were treated to an “exclusive lunch of ethnic cuisines” and then to Rang Ghar in Sivasagar district. They then travelled to Kaziranga, the ITM venue, where they would stay the night and participate in the ITM sessions from Wednesday.

“The objective of this tour to Charaideo Maidams or the Rang Ghar and the ethnic lunch was to familiarise them with the two heritage sites and our food so that they can share their personal experiences while promoting the sites to a larger audience,” the official said.

The International Tourism Mart (ITM) is an annual event organised by the Union ministry of tourism designed to highlight the tourism potential of the north-eastern region for both domestic and international audiences. This is the third time the event is being held in Assam.

Similar tours, described as technical visits in ITM parlance, have been arranged for the delegates in and around Kaziranga National Park on Thursday. Around 500 delegates from India and abroad are participating in the event.

“We have arranged a tour of the KNP and nearby tea garden so that they get first-hand experience which they can share with the world. We also have tours arranged after the event to Jorhat (Majuli), Tezpur (Manas) and Dibrugarh. Other states have also arranged tours to showcase their respective destinations,” another official said.

In July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio programme, exhorted domestic tourists to include Charaideo Maidam in Upper Assam as a must-see destination.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma before participating in the four-day event on Tuesday afternoon had posted on X that the ITM was “an excellent platform that will connect global tourism business & entrepreneurs with governments of the 8 North Eastern States. Assam is expecting to host 1 cr tourists in 2024-2025.”