BY DEBAJYOTI CHAKRABORTY
KOLKATA, 15 JULY 2023:
The connecting time for both domestic and international flights will be reduced with the facilities undertaken by the authority of the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport (NSCBIA) in Kolkata says Mr. H.Pulla, General Manager of airport operations of Airports Authority of India (AAI), Kolkata.
Mr. H.Pulla, whos was speaking at the panel discussion on “ The importance of Kolkata as a Gateway to Eastern India” at the TTF Kolkata in Biswa Bangla Prangan held today has informed that new facilities have been added for domestic to international transfers, domestic to domestic transfers, international to international transfers and international to domestic transfers which will drastically reduce the connecting time at NSCBIA and in the days to come will help Kolkata to become a hub of airlines in the east.
“ The Digi Yatra will also help the passengers to skip the long serpentine cues at the airport and the self baggage facilities are also on the pipeline. The infrastructure is ready at Kolkata airport and there will be no problems if more airlines wishes to come here in coming days,”Mr. H.Pulla added.
The entire session has been beautiffully moderated by Mr. Manav Soni, Chairman ( east) of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI). He has also shared his valuable thoughts of his vast experiences as a travel agent.
Mr. Rahul Wadhwa, Chairamn of Airlines Operators Comitteee (EAST) and also the Director ( east) of Indigo Airlines said that there is need to develop the airports in the North East. “ Only two airports Kolkata and Guwahati operates 24 hours out of total 30 airports in the east. Out of the six metro cities Kolkata has the most potential to attract more airlines. There is need to bring more international direct flights from Kolkata,”he said.
Mr. Anil Punjabi, Chairman ( East) of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) said that tourism in Bengal is likely to expand in the coming days and people from this state travel twice or thrice a year and there is lot of scope in travel and tourism sector. “ When you travel you become rich. The covid -19 pandemic has taight many things to the travel agents when for a long period of time when the international borders were sealed, the agents were forced to focus on inland tourism and there is also lot of scope in Bengal with hills, religious, heritage tourism circuits also. East is a growing market and we need support from the governments,” Mr. Anil Punjabi added.
He also added that the focus should be on the international markets with stronger currencies. Need to develop the infrastructure at the toursit destinations international standards mainating all the safety protocols to atrtract international tourists into the state.
Mr. Amitabha Sarkar, general secretary of Travel Agents Association of Bengal (TAAB) said that by nature Bengalies are travel lovers, that helps Kolkata to become a tourism hub in the East.New direct flights from Europe to Kolkata will be a add on with the infrastructural development activities going on at tourism destinations. “ Travel agents can play a significant role in making Kolkata a hub in the east and for that they should be trained and the various travel associations and government can jointly hold workshops for traininbg,”he added.
The upcoming road from Kolkata to Bangkok via Myanmar will be a game changer in tourism and in the days to come will help becoming the City of Joy to become a gateway to the South East Asia.
Mr. Amin Ashgar, President of SKAL Kolkata said that tourism generates 12 percent of employment in India and contributes 2.6% to the nation’s GDP. There is need to promote the tourism destinations like Sundarbans, Doors, Tea Gardens of North Bengal, Digha beach etc both outside the state and the country. “There is need to develop additional recreational activities for the toursits at places like Sundarbans, the world’s largest natural mangrove forest for converting it to a merely weekend destination to a seven day major tourism destination with add on facilities like honey collection, adventure tourism, wildlife safaris, farm tourism etc etc so that it can also attract foreign tourists,” said Mr. Amin Ashgar.
He also said that focus should be on religious tourism and Buddhist tourism circuits attract lots of foreign toursists. Relics of Goutam Buddha are preserved in Kolkata Museum and it should be properly marketed so that Buddhist Circuit toursists visiting India should drop to Kolkata and Kolkata should be a hub of airlines to Taipei and not Delhi and Kolkata . Some changes in image will help Bengal get more foreign touyrsists like Varanasi is getting now. He also stressed the rold of artificial intelligence in shaping the future of tourism business in the world
Mr. Harsh Agarwal, CEO of TTF Kolkata and Mr. Sanjeev Agarwal, chairman and CEO of Fairfest Media Limited , Mr. Raj Basu, expert on sustainable tourism were also present.
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