West Bengal plans to promote a “one district, one destination” tourism model by linking locally celebrated festivals and rituals with eco-friendly infrastructure, tourism minister Shankar Ghosh said at an event in Siliguri on Saturday. The state also plans to develop 1,000 tourist amenity centres at destinations across Bengal.
Ghosh said the initiative would be implemented in collaboration with district administrations, with district magistrates asked to identify suitable locations for the proposed amenity centres. The facilities are intended to support tourism activity across different parts of the state and improve the infrastructure available to visitors.
“In Bengal, we celebrate ‘Baro Mase Tero Parbon’, that is, festivals throughout the year. Keeping this in view, we have decided to promote the rituals and festivals which are popularly celebrated in particular districts by highlighting the ‘one district, one destination’ concept,” Ghosh said.
The minister said the main objective was to develop more eco-friendly tourism infrastructure with the respective district administrations. He added that the government aimed to generate greater revenue and employment by making better use of the tourism potential of districts beyond the state’s established destinations.
The announcement was made on the sidelines of “Bengal Beyond Boundaries — Celebrating World Tourism Day 2026”, organised by the Federation of Bengal Hoteliers on Saturday, a day before World Tourism Day. Ghosh also took part in a procession that began at Siliguri College and ended near the Bagha Jatin Park area. Dabgram-Fulbari MLA Sikha Chatterjee, district administration officials and students from educational institutions participated in the procession.
The proposed amenity-centre programme places district administrations at the centre of the plan. Their initial responsibility will be to identify appropriate locations for the facilities, although the announcement did not specify the number of centres proposed for each district, the project cost, the construction timeline or the operating arrangements.
Ghosh also issued a safety appeal for visitors travelling to the hills, particularly during the monsoon months from July to September. He cited frequent landslides and other natural calamities in the hilly region that can disrupt travel during this period and urged tourists to exercise extra caution.
The tourism announcement came alongside preparations for the annual Himalayan Hospitality & Tourism Award ceremony, which the Himalayan Hospitality & Tourism Development Network will hold at Mayfair Tea Resort near Sukna on Sunday evening. The event, organised for the past seven years, recognises tourism stakeholders including tour operators, transporters and hoteliers from the region.
HHTDN general secretary Tanmoy Goswami said the awards acknowledge stakeholders for providing services to tourists. The next administrative step for the state’s proposed tourism infrastructure programme is the identification of locations for the 1,000 amenity centres by district magistrates.
