Recently Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry organised a two-day tourism summit to explore the tourism potential of the eastern and north-eastern part of the country. West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, who inaugurated the summit, seemed not very happy with the performance of the state tourism department. According to him, the tourism department had not been able to showcase the tourism resources of West Bengal properly.
True, apart from a desert the state has all the stuff that can attract the tourists. In spite of that, the state does not have a good share compared to the other states in terms of the number of foreign and domestic tourists visiting West Bengal. The Chief Minister said, “Our performance is not satisfactory in attracting tourists. In the calendar year 2005 the number of domestic tourists that came to West Bengal stood at 13.56 million and the number of foreign tourists stood at 0.89 million. We have to improve these figures.”
Bhattacharya said a number of initiatives were on the pipeline to boost the tourism sector. The state government was contemplating to start eco-tourism activity in the Sundarbans. “We are planning to start eco-tourism in that area. But, we have to move very cautiously as in any circumstances the bio-diversity and the wildlife of the area shouldn't be disturbed”, he said.
Bhattacharya informed that the Planning Commission had agreed to form a sub-committee which should be entrusted with the task of making a report on how to go about it.
The Queen of Hills and West Bengal's most admired tourist destination, Darjeeling does not charm the tourists any more as it did earlier. It has become a jungle, in the words of Bhattacharya. The situation is such that the state government is on the look out for a new tourist spot in the region. “I am in touch with Subhas Ghising, Chairman of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, and we are trying to identify and develop some new areas adjacent to Darjeeling”, he said. Digha, another favourite spot with the tourists for weekends is facing some environmental hazards. The Shankarpur beach has been developed to substitute Digha. The state government is now trying to rope in more investors to build hotels and other tourist facilities at Shankarpur.
Medical tourism is another very upcoming concept to attract tourists. The state government is trying to catch on that line. A number of super-specialty hospitals have already come up in Kolkata and another few are in the pipeline. This apart, Bhattacharya said, “We are also planning to set up three big hospitals in Kalyani, Rajarhat and South 24 Parganas.” He added that to boost health tourism the state needed to encourage some other activities such as shopping malls, multiplexes, etc. “Pantaloons and Reliance are taking keen interests in these matter”, he said.
Speaking on the occasion West Bengal Tourism Minister Manab Mukherjee said,“ The tourism industry has a great multiplier effect on other industries and it is the highest generator of employment and earner of foreign exchange.” He assured that the state government would provide the investors with all sorts of cooperation if they come with a concrete proposal.


State Tourism Secretary G D Gautama talked about a few assets of the state which if properly showcased could lure tourists to a great extent. He said, “Kolkata had been the capital of India till 1911. It has a lot of heritage properties. We need to take good care of them and promote them as part of tourism. This apart, Kolkata is also the cultural capital of the nation. Book fairs, film festivals, Durga Puja are the unique selling points of Kolkata.” The opening of Nathu-la Pass has again opened up some more opportunities.

11

“West Bengal is the gateway to the entire North East and South East Asia. We need to en-cash this advantage of geographical location of the state”. On the issue of infrastructure, Gautama said, “Of course there are issues of infrastructure inhibiting our growth. Unless, we have the right infrastructure we won't be able to move forward. So, we need to correct whatever infrastructure we have.”