Tourism in West Bengal

West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous state.[1] The state capital is Kolkata. The state encompasses two broad natural regions: the Gangetic Plain in the south and the sub-Himalayan and Himalayan area in the north. The tourism in West Bengal is maintained by WBTDCL, a state government owned enterprise.

West Bengal is located on the eastern bottleneck of India stretching from the Himalayas in the north to the Bay of Bengal in the south. Some of India's most preferred travel destinations like; the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region in the northern extreme of the state, the highest peak of the state Sandakphu (3,636 m or 11,929 ft)[2] and the Sundarbans mangrove forests in the extreme south.

Darjeeling Himalayan Railway or Toy Train is West Bengal's third wonder

During the British colonial era from 1700 to 1912, Kolkata was the capital of British India and witnessed a spate of frenzied construction of buildings, largely influenced by the conscious intermingling of Neo-Gothic, Baroque, Neo-Classical, Oriental and Islamic schools of design. Unlike many north Indian cities, whose construction stresses minimalism, the layout of much of the architectural variety in Kolkata owes its origins to European styles and tastes imported by the British and to a much lesser extent, by the Portuguese and French.

Currently Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan is the brand ambassador of West Bengal Tourism. The promotional films on West Bengal starring Shah Rukh Khan have been directed by Indian National Award winning filmmaker Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury.[3][4][5]

  1. ^ "India: Administrative Divisions (population and area)". Census of India. Archived from the original on 17 December 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2009.
  2. ^ Pal, Supratim (14 May 2007). "Top of world in kingdom of cloud". The Telegraph. Kolkata. Archived from the original on 31 July 2013. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
  3. ^ "SRK becomes brand ambassador of West Bengal". The Times of India. PTI. 13 February 2012. Archived from the original on 31 October 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  4. ^ Soudhriti Bhabani (3 October 2012). "Shah Rukh Khan to promote Mamata's brand Bengal". India Today. Archived from the original on 6 November 2012. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  5. ^ Tanvi Trivedi (22 November 2012). "After Big B-SRK, other states too roped in stars". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2012.