Kolkata, Jul 23 (PTI) The West Bengal government will take steps to ensure tourism has no adverse effect on the environment, and will form an inter-ministerial group with the state Forest Department to protect nature, a minister told the assembly on Thursday.
State Minister Sankar Ghosh said the Tourism Department is setting up a helpline and an app for the benefit of travellers.
Defeating a cut motion brought by ISF MLA Nawsad Siddique, the House passed a budget outlay of Rs 527.84 crore for the Tourism Department in 2026-27.
“We will try to create a blue carbon economy and environment-friendly tourism in Sunderbans,” the minister said, stressing the need for a balance between developing the travel industry and maintaining the ecology of the fragile region in the Gangetic delta.
‘Blue Carbon’ refers to carbon dioxide stored in the world’s coastal and marine ecosystems such as mangroves, saltmarshes, and seagrasses.
Ghosh said Union Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Sekhawat has assured him that West Bengal will get two destinations under the ‘One State: One Global Destination’ programme.
It aims to develop at least one globally benchmarked tourist destination in every state and UT, aligning with India’s broader ‘Viksit Bharat’ roadmap.
“I hope that one of these will be Darjeeling and the other will be either Sunderbans or Mandarmoni on the Bay of Bengal coast,” he said.
He said basic infrastructure for tourists will be developed in and around 108 religious destinations.
Claiming that the Tourism Department lacked importance to the previous government in the state, Ghosh said only Rs 132 crore, out of Rs 521 crore allotted in 2024-25, was spent, while in 2025-26, Rs 142 crore of Rs 523 crore was spent.
The minister said his department has adopted five pillars for tourism development in the state – from possibility to success, tourism for all, branding of Bengal, gateway of eastern India and partnership for progress.
Maintaining that West Bengal is rich in world-class assets, the minister said the state boasts of UNESCO heritage site Sundarbans and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, apart from the Durga Puja festival and Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s Santiniketan and cultural heritage, including the Baul and Chou dances of Purulia.
He said the government is introducing the ‘Revamp Homestay 2026’ policy for various places in the state, including Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Dooars and Jhargram.
Stating that despite tourism having been granted industry status, it does not receive cooperation.
“We are trying to move ahead with both cash benefit and non-cash benefit schemes for the industry,” the state tourism minister said, maintaining that once it gets cabinet approval, the department will ensure more investment in the sector.
Ghosh said his department has taken an initiative for the state’s hotels to join the Centre’s ‘Nidhi Programme’ portal.
He said the government will make efforts for organising at least 2,000 events in the state by undertaking establishment of a MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) Promotion Bureau in 2026-27 with a target of Rs 2,000 crore worth of business.
“We have taken the target of making Kolkata the MICE hub of eastern India,” Ghosh said.
He said the department is also contemplating tea garden-centric tourism to increase the earnings of tea garden worker families. PTI AMR BDC
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