Several greenfield projects in West Bengal's tourism map are coming up along with development of existing sites to attract foreign and domestic visitors, West Bengal minister Indranil Sen said today.
The eastern state, which is now an all-season tourist destination, is expecting investments to the tune of Rs 5000 crore in the next five years in infrastructure and service development, the West Bengal minister of state for Tourism said.
"One of the biggest project is coming up at Gajaldoba in north Bengal, apart from Purulia, Sabujdweep in Hooghly district and several other places in different parts of the state as new initiatives to attract visitors," he said.
The minister said that belying perceptions in certain quarters, West Bengal has ranked fifth in foreign tourist footfall in 2016-17, while it is placed eighth in domestic visitor arrival for three consecutive years till 2016-17.
"Owing to the diversity in geographical contours from the Himalayas to the beaches of Bay of Bengal, the state offers everything to a tourist," he said.
West Bengal offers a variety of choice to a traveller from being the sweetest state to culinary, cultural, spiritual, film, wildlife and adventure tourism, Dipak Haksar, chairman of CII national committee on tourism and hospitality, said.
"With several world-class convention centres in Kolkata and in its vicinity, the state is poised to be the next MICE (meeting, incentives, conference and exhibitions) destination," Haksar, who is also the chief executive of ITC Hotels and WelcomHotels, said.
He said that having hosted the 2017 U-17 FIFA World Cup football tournament superbly, the state has proved to be an excellent sport tourism destination also.
Tourism department principal secretary Atri Bhattacharya said that the biggest festival in Kolkata, the Durga Puja, is one of largest such events in the world which attracts around 13 million visitors over the 10-day period.
He said that the state is planning to organise home stays for tourists to cater to the huge demand as hotels mostly remain full during the period.
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