Tourists cancel trips to Dooars - RIPPLE EFFECT OF SHUTDOWN ON PLAINS

A private resort at Lataguri, on the fringes of Gorumara National Park

TT, Alipurduar, Sept. 17: Travellers have started cancelling trips to the Dooars for the coming Puja season as they cannot visit the neighbouring Darjeeling hills which falls in a larger tourism circuit.

The Dooars have over 150 properties with 15 to 40 rooms and they have all reported around 25 per cent cancellation of bookings for the coming season.

Biplab Dey, the joint secretary of the Dooars Tourism Development Forum, said all reserve forests in the region, which attracted a large number of visitors, had opened yesterday after three months of closure.

"Every year, we get a good number of tourists after the forests open. But this year, there is hardly any tourist around and in fact, there are many cancellations," he added.

The Buxa Tiger Reserve, Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary, Gorumara National Park and Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary in the Dooars close on June 15 every year because of animals' rutting season and reopen on September 15. Various safaris are arranged for tourists inside these forests which have a large number of boarding facilities in the fringe areas.

Tourism stakeholders said the Dooars were now feeling the ripple effect of the shutdown of Darjeeling. #"There are few tourists who want to visit just the Dooars. Most visitors from Calcutta and the rest of Bengal or various parts of India and foreigners want to cover the entire circuit of Darjeeling, Sikkim and the Dooars. It is like the golden triangle of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Delhi and Jaipur have splendid attractions but Taj Mahal is the ultimate destination of a visitor. If a tourist does not have the option to visit Darjeeling, he feels disinclined to travel to the region. That is why there are a lot of cancellations in the Dooars," said Samrat Sanyal, a veteran in the travel trade.

The tour operators said the number of cancellations would go up in the days to come. They couldn't give the figures of tourist footfall in the Dooars for the puja season or an year.

Rajat Kar, a resident of South 24 Parganas who had planned a visit to north Bengal, said he had cancelled the trip.

"We had wanted to visit Darjeeling for three days during Puja holidays and then, spend another three days in Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary. But there is no point in visiting only Jaldapara as Darjeeling is still closed. So, we cancelled the room bookings in Jaldapara and called off the entire trip," said Kar.