Admitting to severe drawbacks in West Bengal’s Tourism department, its principal secretary A. R. Bardhan said here on Tuesday that the State was working on fixing the loopholes. He was addressing media persons at an event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
“We are aware that tourists face problems in popular locations like Darjeeling [in North Bengal]. We are working with the local municipality regarding the issues. Road networks also need to be strengthened in several parts of the State,” Mr. Bardhan said.
He said that advertising agency O&M is working on a major brand-building for the State tourism. According to a CII release, Hindi film actor Shah Rukh Khan, who is also the brand ambassador of State, is likely to feature in the forthcoming new tourism television campaign and a new TV advertisement will be ready in three months.
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The current rate of inflow of foreign tourists into the State stands at a dismal 2.4 per cent. With the fifth edition of the State’s buyer-seller tourism meet ‘Destination East’ slated to begin from next month, efforts are on to considerably increase this rate up by at least 10 per cent, said chairperson, tourism sub-committee, CII Eastern Region, Vijay Dewan. About 25 countries, including UK, USA, China, will be participating.