State to spend Rs 120 crore on tourism

The West Bengal government has decided to spend over Rs 120 crore to uplift tourist destinations in the state and would invest another Rs 10 crore in publicity and promotion to create a brand identity.

"The government has started making the investment since last year to develop various destinations," Managing Director, WB Tourism Development Corporation, T V N Rao said during a seminar on tourism development here today.

Apart from this, the government has decided to spend more in creating a unique brand identity for the state. As against the last year's Rs 6 crore, this year Rs 10 crore would be spent to make West Bengal the most preferred tourist destination, he said.

Rao underlined that tourism in West Bengal needed a boost in branding and marketing strategy to come to the fore.

  He said the number of accredited tour operators in the state is only three, as compared to Delhi's 285 and Maharashtra's 14. The tourism sector in the state has a huge potential and efforts should be made for infrastructure development, he added.