1Department of Commerce, Maharani Kasiswari College, Kolkata,
2Department of Commerce, University of Calcutta, Kolkata
Tourism encompasses economic activities viz. accommodation, transportation, food and beverage, information dissemination and entertat.nments etc. This sector generates a large investment and financing opportuni- ties. Asper the estimate of the World Tourism Organisatt.on, India is projected to become the world fifth largest business travel destination. Indian tourism sector is expected to get USD1O9.30 billion investment by 2020. The growth of tourism is heavily depended upon the availability and accessibility of financial resources over above the geographic attributes for tourist attractions. West Bengal, a state of India has a great scope to be the destination of tourism due to well developed communication links & strategic location ; above all its diverstfied and rich tourism resources such as mountains, sea, jungle, mangrove area, religious sites, heritage, culture, fairs and festivals. Developing tourism and attracting tourists need substantial financing investment. Tourismprojects require large int.tial investment and then tourism business organt.sations/toun.sm entrepreneurs need funds for staring entrepn.ses. Tht.spaper is an attempt to analyse and understand empirically the financial aspects of the tourism industry of West Bengal. The present study is based on both primary and secondary data. The scope of tourism investment and financing at derent nodes of tourism development across West Bengal have been t.denttfied on the basis of published reports by the Central Government, the State Government andpn.vale institutions. Primary data on financial perspective have been gathered through a survey on selected tourism business organt.satt.ons/toun.sm entrepreneurs located in West Bengal to understand their views and opinions regarding tourism in West Bengal. Findings of this paper related toproblems andprospects of the financial aspects of toun~sm shall help to formulate strategy for tourism development in West Bengal at desired level.