Tourism department to roll out project 'Bengal Tourism on Wheels'

Kolkata: In a bid to disseminate detailed information about various tourist spots across the state, the Bengal Tourism department is all set to roll out a new project titled 'Bengal Tourism on Wheels'.

Vehicles decked up with pictures of the tourist destinations will reach every doorstep to provide information about the explored and unexplored tourist spots across the state.

"We have plans to roll out 20 such vehicles before the Pujas. The tender process has already been completed. Four vehicles will be operational in the city and the others in various districts. The aim is to arouse the interest of the people in exploring various tourist destinations of Bengal," a senior official of the state Tourism department said.

The vehicles will have officials, who will be ready to satiate the wander lust of people. There will be LED screens fitted on the vehicle which will be airing video presentations made by the department highlighting the various tourist spots.

"Once a person gets interested to visit a specific place, the officials in the vehicle will be ready to provide detailed information about the fooding and lodging facilities available, the places of interest at the particular destination and also the best time for visiting the particular place,"

the official stated.

"Most importantly, there will be spot booking facilities. The booking slip will be generated and handed over to the customer right at the spot," the official added. It is learnt that tourists going for online bookings from the Tourism department website often complain of difficulties. The state Tourism department under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee has already witnessed a major boost and the flow of foreign tourists in the state is growing by leaps and bounds.

"There was a time when people knew only of Digha Bakkhali, the Sunderbans for short trips or Darjeeling and Doars for trips in the North East. We have developed a number of unconventional tourist spots across the state with world class amenities for the tourists. We have also found that a person living in Cooch Behar is not aware of tourist spots like Henry Island or Sagar Islands. This initiative will be a major stride in bridging this information gap," the official said.

The state is also coming up with tourism information kiosks.