Bhubaneswar, April 23 -- The West Bengal Assembly elections, the first phase of which was held on Thursday, has impacted tourism in Odisha's Puri pilgrim town with the footfall of tourists from the neigbhouring state seeing a nosedive.
The inflow of tourists from West Bengal has dropped more than 35%, for this time of the year which is considered ideal to visit Puri to beat the heat in the sea coast town.
Right from tourist operators to rickshaw pullers on the streets, everybody is feeling the drought of Bengali tourists.
The Jagannath temple and sprawling beach are major attractions that draw thousands of tourists from West Bengal to Puri.
But with polls in the neighbouring State in full swing, the trend is dismal with footfall of Beng...