Statistics show success but reality bites

New destinations like Rishap and Tinchuley have been discovered to give visitors more to choose from and tour operators and agents are doing brisk business. Hotels for high-end visitors and lodges for the budget traveller are mushrooming all over the area and many holidayers still leave with fond memories and a promise to visit the place yet again. But for each visitor who promises to come back to catch the Tiger Hill sunrise, there is another who swears never to return.

Sample this. There are said to be over 700 small and big tour operators and travel agents in the region (north Bengal and Sikkim), but only seven are recognised by the central tourism ministry.

Moving on to hotels, the region boasts of around 1,000 hotels and tourist lodges but only eight to 10 have a star status and not a single has five-star accreditation. Many of them are unlicenced lodges of dubious reputation that employ touts to trick visitors into booking a room and regretting their decision thereafter. Touts here have gained the dubious distinction of charging tourists for star hotel rooms but packing them off to dingy rooms in Darjeeling.

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