West Bengal is soon becoming a destination for all seasons, reveals figures

The state of West Bengal is emerging into an all-weather tourist destination as it is visited by all kinds of travellers, including business, social and leisure round the year, revealed Indranil Sen, Minister of State for Tourism, West Bengal.
During the Destination East summit in Kolkata, Sen revealed a variety of facts and figures that validated the fact about the state becoming suitable for tourists of all kinds throughout the year. The summit was attended by tourism stakeholders from 30 countries like the US, UK, Russia, Australia, Turkey and several South East Asian countries.

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Pointing out the steady increase in the number of tourist footfalls in the state, he said that the state is growing at a CAGR (Compound annual growth rate) of 26.5 percent between FY 2011 and FY 2016, as compared to a CAGR of 14.5 percent between FY 2001 and FY 2010.


Apart from this, Sen also revealed that West Bengal will introduce a number of greenfield projects for the international tourists, and also that the state’s tourism sector is expected to earn as much as INR 5,000 crore in the next five years.

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"One of the biggest project is coming up at Gajaldoba in north Bengal, apart from Jharkhali in the Sunderbans, Purulia, Sabujdweep in Hooghly district and several other places across the state as new initiatives to attract visitors," Sen said.


"Owing to the diversity in geographical contours from the Himalayas to the beaches of Bay of Bengal, the state offers everything to a tourist," Sen pointed out. He further drew attention to the fact that the state of West Bengal has been ranked fifth in terms of tourist footfalls in 2016-17, ahead of Goa, Rajasthan and Kerala.

Atri Bhattacharya, Principal Secretary, Departments of Home, Hill Affairs and Tourism, West Bengal re-established the fact that the festival Durga Puja in Kolkata has been a major draw for tourists and that it attracts around 13 million visitors during the 10-day period. He said that the state is planning to come up with homestays that would specially cater to the tourists who visit the state just to experience the festival.