State plans special puja tours to woo foreign tourists

Sep 27, 2023, 08:21 IST

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State plans special puja tours to woo foreign tourists

Kolkata: The state government, gearing up for Durga Puja, is set to rope in tour operators to increase the footfall of foreign tourists this year. Buoyed by the Unesco tag of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the state also plans to showcase the 100 best pujas at the Red Road carnival this year, along with cultural shows with foreign tourists as the target audience.
“Our CM Mamata Banerjee had conceived the Red Road carnival to increase the tourist flow to Bengal and after the Unesco tag she had been trying to make an all out effort to hard sell Bengal,” said tourism minister Indranil Sen.
This time the tourism department is tying up with tour operators with special puja package offers which range from Rs 1,999 to Rs 3,499. This is to draw in more overseas tourists during the puja, an official said, adding that they are also arranging visits to some of the best pandals of the city. Sen said the target is to increase the footfall of tourists during puja and for which they are focusing on Durga Puja’s religious and cultural aspects. The tourist department’s restaurants too are being decked up to cater the best dishes of Bengal for foodies. An official said that for the first time they had set up tour packages for Durga Puja. The tourism department will start their pre Durga Puja tour package from Tritiya (Oct 17).
Tourism secretary Nandini Chakravorty said, “The tour packages will be given to 1,000 tour operators for selling these packages.”

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