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West Bengal is known for its festivities. The popular Bengali coinage, ‘Baro mashe tero parbon’ literally translates to 13 festivals in 12 months, which is applicable to the state. The biggest festival in the state is the Durga Puja and with around 28,000 Durga Puja pandals across the state, the state government hopes to tap into its tourism potential.

Atri Bhattacharya, Home Secretary, West Bengal, who is also in charge of tourism, recently told English daily The Hindu, “I have written to every single diplomat in the country. I have written to hotels and travel writers, inviting them all to Bengal during the Durga Puja.”

Bhattacharya added that Bengalis need to realise the magnitude of this festival. With around 28,000 Durga Puja pandals across Bengal, it is quite easily the largest art installation in the world with around 50 million people poised to visit the state over the course of these 10 days.

Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister, West Bengal, had initiated a mega pre-immersion parade on the Red Road in Kolkata in 2016 to popularise this festival. The parade is now an important tourist attraction. The state government also plans to take foreign tourists to visit different places in Bengal before and after the puja.

Tourism contributes close to 12% to the state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The present state government plans to ramp it up to 20% by 2025. According to government data, West Bengal hosted over 81 million tourists in 2017. However, only 1.6 million of those were foreign tourists and the state needs to improve that ratio.

The West Bengal tourism department is putting together a calendar for tourists, starting with Durga Puja, which begins in mid-October and ending with Holi on March 21. The calendar includes the Kolkata International Film Festival (November), Bangla Sangeet Mela, Christmas Carnival, Bishnupur Music Festival (all in December), Kolkata Book Fair and the first-ever Kolkata River Festival (in late January).

The department is also upgrading its 43 properties across the state, with 25 of them to reach 3-star hotel standard before Durga Puja. The government plans to develop a crowd-sourced rating app that will include every tourism facility in the state — hotels, home stays, restaurants, and tour operators. The most highly-rated among them would, in turn, be recommended to tourists by the government.

According to Bhattacharya, “My personal belief is that tourism creates up to18 times more jobs than heavy industry for the same amount of investment. Even globally, tourism is the largest industry after retail. And tourism is driven by festivals.”

The West Bengal tourism department also plans to promote home stay tourism among foreign tourists, focusing on the Durga Puja. The state government wishes to uphold Bengal’s tradition and culture to the visiting foreign tourists and believes that it will attract a large number of foreign tourists in future. The government also plans to promote celebrations like Rabindra Jayanti and Nazrul Jayanti (the birth anniversaries of poets Rabindranath Tagore and Nazrul Islam) in a big way to woo foreign tourists. The West Bengal tourism department along with the CII North Bengal Zonal Council is hosting an international travel and tourism industry meet called 'Destination East' in Kolkata from January 18 to 25, 2019. Such initiatives will strengthen the tourism industry in West Bengal.

Thomas Cook India's internal research and analytics reveals a 26% upsurge in holiday bookings from Kolkata during Durga Puja. It also reveals that nearly 75% of the travellers book their holidays almost two months in advance. Durga Puja also gives a boost to the state’s economy as it creates employment for a number of people including idol-makers, artisans, traders and small businesses. West Bengal also sees a surge in the sale of garments and white goods during this period. According to report published in 2013, the size of the Durga Puja industry that year was around Rs 25,000 crore. The same report estimated that the market would nearly double itself in two years. The sheer expanse of this market makes it lucrative for stake-holders to promote it as curtain-raiser for West Bengal’s tourism market. The state government’s recent policies will improve the process.