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New Delhi : West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation (WBTDC) has tied-up with State Tourism Boards (STB's) such as Jammu and Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh, as well as private travel companies such as Thomas Cook and MakeMyTrip.com to promote their tourism products through its website and vice versa.
The Corporation will soon give a Uniform Resource Locater (URL) of these associates in its website www.westbengaltourism.gov.in. Currently the website offers Karnataka tourism's URL. This information was provided by T V N Rao, Managing Director of WBTDC. Rao mentioned that WBTDC website which offers online booking facility for all its hotel properties in the state is in the process of promoting hotel property stakeholders in the state through its website.
Talking about the development of various tourism infrastructure in the state, Rao informed that the state tourism department has divided West Bengal into three tourist circuits, firstly Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri wherein the state tourism department largely promotes wildlife besides heritage; secondly Murshidabad focusing on promoting Heritage Tourism and thirdly River Tourism circuits that stretches from Parakat to Bay of Bengal, besides Sunderban in Kolkata and Bishnupur. All these areas will be developed under Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. He mentioned that the state government has allocated Rs 100 crore for tourism infrastructure development, besides Rs six crore for publicity. In 2009, West Bengal received 1.3 million foreign tourists and 19.3 million domestic tourists.
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