Tourism app to assist tourists visiting Bengal

Kolkata: The state Tourism department will soon launch an app with comprehensive tourist information for a hassle-free experience of domestic as well as international travellers in Bengal.

People will be getting details of tourist lodges, homestays and even online booking facilities through the app that is expected to be launched by February this year. The department has already made a guide book for tourists which will be made available very soon.

"We are organising the 9th edition of 'Destination East' to promote Bengal as a preferred tourist destination for both national and international travellers," said Nandini Chakravorty, Principal Secretary of state Tourism department.

It may be mentioned that due to continuous efforts and marketing the state — through Destination East — has seen an increase in the number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) from 12.19 lakhs in 2012 to 16.17 lakhs in 2018 which is an increase of 33 per cent. Destination East is a joint endeavour of the state Tourism department and CII, to focus on helping international tour operators to look beyond normal tourism destinations and expand their business by promoting new destinations to their customers.

The report by Airports Authority of India from April to November 2019, states that Bengal has witnessed an increase of air passengers by 13.3 per cent in comparison to the same period in 2018. Kolkata airport has had a footfall of 20,27,373 passengers from April to November 2019 against 17,88,622 in the same period of 2018.

Moreover, all the major cities like Jaipur, Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai are lagging much behind Kolkata in this parameter.

There will be over 8,000 prefixed B2B meetings between international buyers and local stakeholders during the present edition of Destination East at Biswa Bangla Convention Centre to be held on January 13 and 14.

This will be followed by various familiarisation trips for the international buyers at North Bengal, Shantiniketan, Sunderbans, Murshidabad, Purulia, upstream cruise along the Ganges.

The Tourism department is working upon promoting river cruise through professional management of the cruises that run in the waterways.