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WB trying hard to get tourism spot status
WB trying hard to get tourism spot status
Tuesday, June 5, 2007 | AY
West Bengal wants to position itself as a tourist destination the way Rajasthan, Kerala, and Goa have. The Left-ruled state has earmarked Rs3.5 crore for advertising and public relations expenditure over 2007-08 towards achieving that goal. The state’s new tourism policy is being drafted by audit firm Ernst & Young Global Ltd. The Rs3.5 crore that West Bengal plans to spend is quite small as compared to Rs10-15 crore that Kerala spends every year, but the amount is almost three times of what the state spent last year. Gautama, West Bengal’s principal secretary, explained that this would involve restructuring its website to offer online booking, and build and offer holiday packages around themes such as handicraft and fairs, heritage, environment, tea gardens, villages and medical retreats. He added that around 12 tea gardens in North Bengal have come forward to convert a part of their property to enable tea tourism. The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority is in the process of cleaning up the Hoogly river, which flows through the eastern metropolis, under the Ganga Action Plan, a scheme to clean up the Ganges and its tributaries.
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