The Department of Tourism, Government of West Bengal, has launched a consultative process with tourism and hospitality industry stakeholders to formulate a Short-Term Tourism Action Plan and a Long-Term Tourism Development Roadmap for the state.
The meeting, convened by Tourism Minister Shankar Ghosh, brought together representatives from leading national and regional tourism and hospitality associations, alongside senior government officials. Minister of State Purnima Chakraborty, Additional Chief Secretary Barun Kumar Ray, IAS, Director of Tourism Soumitra Shankar Sengupta and officials from the tourism department also participated in the discussions.
The initiative marks the beginning of a structured government-industry engagement framework aimed at positioning tourism as a key driver of economic growth, employment generation, investment and cultural preservation in West Bengal.
During the meeting, the minister outlined five strategic priorities for tourism development. These include improving tourism performance through policy reforms and infrastructure development; creating inclusive tourism experiences for domestic and international travellers; strengthening destination branding through the proposed “Experience Bengal 2.0” campaign; enhancing multimodal connectivity across air, rail, road and river networks; and fostering stronger collaboration between government agencies, industry stakeholders, investors and local communities.
Industry representatives provided recommendations covering destination marketing, tourism infrastructure, connectivity, policy reforms, investment promotion, skill development, sustainable tourism practices and ease of doing business. Discussions also focused on strengthening niche tourism segments including river tourism, heritage tourism, adventure tourism and medical tourism.
A key proposal emerging from the consultation was the development of an integrated West Bengal Tourism Master Policy that would consolidate tourism-related policies under a unified strategic framework. Stakeholders also highlighted the importance of implementing Industry Status for tourism through supportive regulations, incentives and coordinated action across government departments.
To facilitate structured industry participation, tourism associations have been invited to submit organisational profiles, membership details and three-year strategic vision documents aligned with the government’s identified priorities. These submissions will contribute to the formulation of the state’s tourism development plans.
The minister also announced the creation of a Special Tourism Facilitation Cell within the department to evaluate and facilitate tourism investment proposals, projects and promotional initiatives. The proposed mechanism aims to support coordinated and time-bound processing of industry proposals.
The government said regular consultative meetings and thematic working groups will be institutionalised to ensure continued stakeholder engagement in tourism policy development and implementation.
