May 22, 2015
Bengal tourism flourishes – tourist footfall doubles in 2014
West Bengal in 2014 saw around 89% growth in tourist footfall as compared to the previous year, state tourism minister Bratya Basu said.
According to the minister, 5.04 crore tourists visited Bengal last year compared to 2.67 crore in 2013.
Apart from the overall growth, number of foreign tourists also went up to 14 lakh from 12.45 lakh in 2013.
“Our estimate is that the overall number of tourists as well as number of foreign tourists will get doubled this year,” the minister said.
The increase in footfall of tourists can be attributed to the higher budgetary allocation for improving the tourism infrastructure in the state.
In 2011-12 the allocation was Rs 44 crore which has gone up to Rs 317 crore in 2015-16.
Year-wise growth of tourist footfall in Bengal
