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West Bengal Tourism Dept to organise five-day tourism festival

ETW Staff - Kolkata

The West Bengal Tourism Department is organising a five-day tourism festival, to showcase the state's tourism potential. It will be held at the Nalban Boating Complex in the city.

Organised as a part of the state government's initiative to promote tourism, the festival has now become an annual event. "This year it will be organised jointly with partner states like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu," informed Manabendra Mukherjee, the state tourism minister.

The other participating states are Sikkim, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Tripura. Private players like the HHI Group, The Kenilworth, Hotel Astor, Bhojohari Manna, Red Hot Chilli Pepper too are also participating in the festival. "The festival will provide a platform to the states to highlight their tourism potential, including their traditional art, culture, dance, food and music," said T V N Rao, managing director, West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation.

Elaborating on the reason behind organising the five-day festival, Rao said, "The idea is to take tourism in West Bengal to the national level. We want this festival to become one of the premier ones in the country." The different pavilions at the festival will provide all necessary tourism-related information to the visitors and the kiosks will display the arts and crafts of these states. Artistes from different states will put up traditional performances adding a special ambience to the festival.

A plethora of delicacies from West Bengal's all-time favourite Chinese and Punjabi food to South Indian, Mexican, Turkish, Mongolian and Thai dishes together with Bengali cuisine and its famous sweets, would compete to draw the attention of gourmets, said Rao.