Tarun Gogoi inaugurating the online booking system. Picture by S.H. Patgiri

Feb. 23: Chief minister Tarun Gogoi today inaugurated an online booking system, which will provide information to travellers about the availability of accommodation in tourist lodges.

The booking system, devised by the Assam Tourism under its “Computerisation Services of Assam Tourism” project, was inaugurated at the Assam Tourist Lodge in the presence of officials and leading tour operators of the city.

Officials said the system would be upgraded soon to cover monetary transactions for online payment arrangement. Gogoi said this would help reduce the problems of tourists who had to wait for a long time to know about accommodation availability in tourist lodges. Many had to come to the city and then make their bookings.

Under the project, Assam Tourism offices and other facilities would be computerised using the local area networking, which will be upgraded to wide area networking at a later stage.

Another aim of the project is undertaking computerisation of accounting and day-to-day transactions of the lodges and other offices through use of standard software packages. “We have to market and sell tourism inside the country,” Gogoi said.

The booking system will also include cruise vessel and package tours. The website, www.assamtourismonline.com, will be functional within three days. The website will be linked with the portal of the India Tourism. It will also give details of tourist destinations and how to reach those.

The Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, is the consultant in implementing the project. Training of the existing manpower for both booking and accounting module in a phased manner has started under the programme.

The project has been implemented at a cost of Rs 40 lakh covering hardware components, software design, development, testing and implementation including training. Computers have been provided with all accessories at all major offices of the Assam Tourism.

Four tourism projects in the city are under various stages of implementation.

The projects include the sound and light show at Srimanta Shankardev Kalakshetra, development and beautification of Dighalipukhuri, construction of the craft village and installation of toilet facilities at the Kamakhya Pilgrim Centre.