We Aim To Reach Financial Self-Sufficiency In A Few Years

The Tourism Department of West Bengal has taken up the mega task of renovating many of its tourist accommodations and is also looking to implement new programmes. It has been trying to attract national and international tourists.

- Goutam Deb

In an exclusive interview with BE’s Kishore Kumar Biswas, Goutam Deb, Minister-In-Charge, Department of Tourism, Government of West Bengal, points out how his department is pushing the boundaries for tourism in the state and emerging as a financially self-sufficient department.

Q. You are going to start the Bengal Tourism Festival – North Bengal 2019. It is the first-of-its-kind in the state. Please tell us what it is about.

A. This festival will start from November 17 and end on December 22 this year. It is a weekend tour programme. In this one and a half month, the programme will start every Friday and end at noon of the corresponding Sunday. For each weekend, we will be covering a tourist location. Six places have been selected in north Bengal. It will start from Sittong in Darjeeling. In the next weekend, Mansong in Kalimpong district will be covered. Next it will be organised at Rajabhatkhwa in Alipurduar district. It will then be organised at Gajoldoba and then at Matiyali, both in the Jalpaiguri district. The last programme will be at Kaldighi in South Dinajpur district.

Q. Why did you go for such an initiative?

A. The purpose was to introduce interested people to important places in north Bengal and to expose them to the special cultural aspects of those places like dance, music and food. Tourists can enjoy trekking, visits to bird sanctuaries, go for jungle safaris, elephant rides and enjoy cycling and fishing.