September 27, 2019
State Govt to tap several avenues of tourism aggressively
The Bangla Government is focussed on tapping the tourism potential of the State in the travel and tourism market. The 35th Annual Convention of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) was recently held in Kolkata where efforts to this end were made.
Since the city has changed significantly in the last 10 years, the Government plans to showcase the new face of Kolkata as a ‘hub city’. This would in turn generate interest in tourism all over the State.
The State Tourism Department is also planning to have a new slogan, ‘Ocean to the Sky’ in order to promote the diversity of Bangla.
Bangla offers a number of tourism circuits, and the State Government is at present trying to actively push heritage tourism by involving private tour operators.
The south-western part of the State provides a nice circuit for wilderness and adventure tourism via rivers, hills and forests. The Dooars also provides a great opportunity for tourism. The entire stretch from Kolkata to Durgapur-Asansol provides excellent opportunities for business and recreational trips.
For the promotion of cultural tourism, the Tourism Department plans to promote and encourage several festivals celebrated in Bangla including Durga Puja in October, followed by Kali Puja (Diwali), the Kolkata International Film festival in November, the Kolkata Christmas Carnival in December and the Sangeet Mela in January.
The tourism department is also planning to organise a River Festival in January for which an MoU has been signed with the British Council and the UK Government.
Apart from these, the Department is also focussed on promoting the State’s cuisines in a huge way.
Regarding cruise tourism, which is growing for the past five to six years, the Tourism Department plans to take on two more vessels, adding to the already existing four, along with two houseboat-type vessels which can be used for meetings. Besides in Kolkata, houseboats would also be floated on water bodies in Mukutmanipur and Chandannagar.
