Kolkata: Bengal govt’s new land and industrial policy, to be unveiled before Durga Puja, will focus heavily on the tourism sector, state tourism minister Shankar Ghosh said on Thursday. The govt was eyeing an investment of around Rs 2,500 crore to build infrastructure to boost the sector, Ghosh said at the ICC Hospitality and Tourism Summit held in the city.“State govt expects over Rs 2,500 crore in direct investment for infrastructure development, backed by a fiscal allocation of Rs 500 crore in 2026-27, to make the tourist destinations of Bengal globally accessible. Our objective is to transform Bengal into a foreign-currency-earning state through modern, sustainable and technology-enabled tourism,” he said.Ghosh added that state govt was planning to set up a hospitality institute where local workforce can be groomed for the tourism sector.“Our department has sent a tourism policy that will be part of the upcoming land and industrial policy. We are working to rebrand and redesign the tourism sector afresh so that it can also attract foreign investments in the future. The tourism sector has the potential to contribute significant revenues to the state exchequer,” he said.The state was also working to develop destinations like Mirik and Kalimpong, along with several new projects, the minister added.Ghosh said investment flow in the tourism sector has already started, with Rs 12,634 crore in investment proposals received at a summit held by the tourism department.Union tourism minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, also present at the event, said Centre was planning to make Bengal a destination for cultural heritage tourism. “In the future, tourism will be driven by experience, not by monuments alone. Kolkata, with its MICE infrastructure, hotels, connectivity, culture and heritage, has all the ingredients to emerge as a major tourism and events destination. Govt and the industry need to work together to build and market that platform,” Shekhawat said.
