Dooars counts profit, Darjeeling loss

Budget tourists have chosen Dooars and Sikkim over Darjeeling this time. “The movement of high-end tourists, including foreigners, to Darjeeling has largely remained unaffected. But budget tourists, who flock in thousands to the hill station during Pujas, have mostly moved to the Dooars or Sikkim,” Said the general secretary of the Eastern Himalaya Travel and Tour Operators’ Association. “It is not that nobody is going, but the figure is low this year.”

For most tourists, observers feel, the trepidation still lingers especially after several of them had to leave the hills within a day’s notice from the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha agitating for a separate state.

Before Pujas, however, the Morcha had assured the state government as well as tourists that they would not face any inconvenience.

“Our perception is that the inflow of budget tourists will soon return to normal in Darjeeling,” Sanyal said. “Being a hill station itself is a big USP. Provided that no disruption occurs in the current season, visitors would be back in the hills, flocking to the Mall and other places.”

In the Dooars, the situation is completely different. Unlike other years, the seams seem to be bursting this time.

“Every single resort — we have 31 here right now — is full,” said Kamal Bhowmik, secretary of the Lataguri Resort Owners’ Association. “The accommodations run by the forest department and West Bengal Forest Development Corporation are also flooded with tourists. There is hardly any booking available till mid November.”

The average capacity in each resort in Lataguri, located close to Gorumara National Park, is 25-30 people, Bhowmik said. “For the past few days, people have been pleading for one-day accommodation, saying they will tour the other places from Siliguri. We are under tremendous pressure to cater to this upsurge, one agent calling up the other frantically, hunting for accommodation.”

Foresters, too, echoed the tour operators. “A large number of tourists visited the Puja organised by our staff in the Bichabhanga office campus, located a few hundred metres from Lataguri,” said Tapas Das, the divisional forest officer (wildlife-II). “But even after this inflow, we feel that many have opted for spots outside Bengal. Otherwise, the rush would have been higher.”

In the Dooars, sources said, several residents have arranged for home-stays in places like Jaldapara, Rajabhatkhawa, Jayanti, Chilapata, Samsing, Murti and Suntalekhola. Lataguri, too, is on the list.

“Those having spare rooms are keeping tourists. Food is not the problem but accommodation is. Such temporary arrangements is helping to keep the tourists,” one of the sources said.

Courtesy: Telegraph

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