App 'Hurray' to rate tour, hotel operators across the state for tourists

Kolkata: The state Tourism department has launched an app called "Hurray" on the basis of which it will be rating tour and hotel operators across the state to facilitate domestic and international tourists when they plan to explore Bengal. The app was launched at the fifth edition of the Bengal Global Business Summit on Friday.

"The tour operators, the hotel or restaurant operators, guides and transport operators are asked to register themselves with this app. When a customer pays the bill, there will be a five-category rating on which he/she will be giving the feedback. The rating will be uploaded through the app and when we get a volume of such reviews, the properties or hotels with good reviews will be linked to our website. This will help tourists to have an idea of the good properties and hotels and accordingly plan their tour," said Atri Bhattacharya, Principal Secretary of state Tourism department.

The rating will be on the basis of amenities, cleanliness, quality of food for restaurants etc. The app may be downloaded easily through google playstore.

According to Bhattacharya, this initiative on the part of the state government is the first-of-its-kind in the country. "We will not force anybody to register themselves with this app. But everybody is well aware that when there is a government rating for any property or restaurant, the customer is convinced of the quality of service it offers," he added.

The state Tourism department has plans to bring on board consulting engineers to bring in properties owned by various departments of the state government under a single template.

"The dialogue with various government departments that owns properties across the state has already started," a senior official of the Tourism department said.

The department is also working on formulating standard packages for leisure of high-end tourists.

Various tour operators have urged the state government to push for adventure tourism with ropeways being a major component.

"Ropeways are very much in our agenda. But in recent times, there has been a number of accidents and even some fatal cases in connection with adventure tourism. We want to ensure foolproof safety of the tourists before pushing for ropeways in the state," the official said.