Tourism festival to take form of Food Festival

Kolkata, Dec 21 (UNI) With a view to promoting tourism in West Bengal, the Ministry has decided to choose food as the flavour of this year's Tourism Festival.

Being christened as All India Food Festival to be held here in the eastern fringes of the city from January 9 to 13,, the Tourism Ministry was holding this festival to bring all stakeholders related to tourism onto one platform, Tourism Minister Manabendra Mukherjee today said.

The West Bengal Tourism Festival is an annual feature since 2003.

'' This year, it has taken a new form with the addition of the 'food factor' in a big way, '' said Mr Mukherjee.

Four more states - Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh - were joining as partners in the five-day event, besides Sikkim, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Tripura, which would be participating with tourism promotion stalls.

The other stakeholders, being brought within the ambit of this festival, include various hotels serving exquisite cuisines from all over the world, especially the traditional cuisines of India.

'' Besides, other cultural events will be included in this event, including performance by Bangla music bands - Chandrabindu and Kalpurush and the Bombay Vikings, various dance and music bands from the differnt states, especially Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Manipur, '' Mr Mukherjee said and added,'' Indian Idol finalist Eman will also be here to entertain the crowd. '' A total of ten states would directly or indirectly participate in this initiative of the West Bengal Tourism Department.

UNI