The hospitality industry in Bengal has urged the state government to consider policy changes to promote tourism such as granting industry status to hotels, introducing single window clearances and preparing a separate rules for private jetties.

Hotels and Restaurant Association of Eastern India (HRAEI), which held an interactive session with state tourism minister Babul Supriyo and state tourism secretary Saumitra Mohan pointed to the skewed distribution of star category hotels.

“We have about 10,948 hotels in Bengal. This does not include the homestays and small guest houses. I am talking about the hotels which are 10-plus number of rooms. Of this 60-70 are hotels in two-star to five-star category.

“Most of these hotels are Calcutta-centric. Somewhere, we need to improve the investment pattern so that hotels and restaurants grow in the rest of Bengal,” said Sudesh Poddar, president, HRAEI.