On the development of a tourism strategic roadmap for West Bengal, the Department of Tourism, Government of West Bengal, and Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH) held a day-long workshop on June 4, 2022, at ITC, Royal Bengal Hotel to formulate a tourism development strategy aimed at creating livelihood and job opportunities.
Who is FAITH?
FAITH is a policy federation made up of all ten national associations in India that represent the entire tourism, travel, and hospitality industry: Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI), Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI), Federation of Hotel & Restaurants Association of India (FHRAI), Hotel Association of India (HAI), Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB), 7. Indian Heritage Hotels Assoc.
MOA Signing and Discussions between FAITH & West Bengal Government
The one-day workshop, which was the first in a series following the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between the FAITH and the West Bengal government on April 21, 2022, covered a wide range of topics related to the state’s tourism strategic plan.
Many issues affecting the tourism, travel, and hospitality industries were discussed in-depth, including heritage tourism policy, direct and last-mile connectivity for tourist destinations, strengthening single-window clearance mechanisms for tourism, seamless tourist transportation, adventure and eco-tourism policy, prioritisation of top 10 tourism products and segments, marketing and awareness campaigns, and the development of district-level tourism inventories.
The workshop examined how to develop an eclectic and comprehensive tourism strategy for harnessing the state’s enormous tourist potential, as well as how to integrate tourism with the state’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage, promoting and safeguarding folk art, craft, and folk genres. Heritage tourism, rural tourism, film tourism, adventure tourism, ecotourism, river tourism, and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) tourism were all determined to be divided into sub-groups for more concentrated attention.
Skilling, Re-skilling & UpSkilling
The evolving strategy is expected to focus on the skilling, re-skilling, and upskilling of various professionals and stakeholders involved in the travel and tourism industry in order to unlock huge employment opportunities while also ensuring seamless service delivery for all sectoral stakeholders and end-beneficiaries, i.e. tourists visiting West Bengal from across the country.
Following that, a comprehensive brainstorming session was held with officials from the Department of Tourism, chaired by Tourism Secretary Dr Saumitra Mohan. The joint task team will establish a milestone and timeline-based implementation plan for consideration by the West Bengal government.
The delegates extended their thanks to Mamata Banerjee, the Hon’ble Chief Minister, for her overall leadership.
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