kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asked Chief Secretary H.K Dwivedi and the Tourism department to lay special emphasis on religious tourism by developing infrastructure of the religious sites of different communities located in Bankura district. While addressing administrative review meeting at Bankura, Banerjee also asked the Tourism department to boost home tourism through development of homestays.
Dwivedi said that an in-house meeting will be held with senior officials of FAITH on June 4 for chalking out a blueprint to develop Bengal as number one tourist destination in the country. "We will be bringing the tour operators, hotel owners and all other stakeholders of Tourism under one umbrella for examining the potential of the various destinations and accordingly take steps for development," he added. The Tourism department had signed an MoU with FAITH at the Bengal Global Business Summit held last month. Banerjee asked the Tourism department to examine the possibility of inclusion of home Tourism under Matir Sristi and make allocations of some rooms at the Pathasathis and Karmasathis too. She also proposed involving local youths through skill training for facilitating of tourists from other states or countries. "10 youths can be selected from each block and trained and then can be utilised for promotion of home Tourism," suggested Banerjee.