West Bengal govt to start social media blitz to revive tourism

In a bid to revive the tourism industry in the state which is still reeling under the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the West Bengal Government has decided to a social media blitz to promote the tourism industry in the state.

Sources in the state administration said that the Tourism Department was planning to hire a private professional agency to boost the department’s social media presence.

The state government is planning to hire a private organisation for two years on a contractual basis which will use social media to take the tourist spots, cultural events such as the Durga Puja Carnival to the global audience. All the social media accounts of the Tourism Department will be revamped and new accounts will also be created.

Contents such as travel blogs, photos of tourist spots, documentary will be open for feedback from the general public who can pose related questions to the state government.

“We are planning to hire professional bloggers to write travel blogs for our social media accounts and website,” said a senior Tourism Department official.

The private agencies will be required to post at least 10 tweets per day on tourism in Bengal on Facebook, four on Instagram and YouTube.

“The videos posted on Facebook and YouTube will have to get at least 2 lakh views per month. Our target audience will be tourists from those countries who visit Bengal most,” said the official.

Tourism Minister Gautam Deb said that there was no lack of tourist attractions in Bengal and the industry had every potential to create a large number of employment opportunities.

“The tourism industry in the state has been badly hit in the last six months by the pandemic. It will take time for things to return to normalcy. At several places lodge owners are not opening for business fearing infection,” said Deb.