Hills tourist footfall climbs past recent years’ counts

Zeeshan Javed, TNN, KOLKATA: The tourist traffic in the Hills this festive season has surpassed the number of visitors in recent years, triggering a scramble for hotels, homestays and vehicles, said guides, tour operators and hotel owners in Darjeeling and Sikkim.

According to associations of tour operators and hotel owners, one of the biggest reasons for the surge in footfall was that tourists have given Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarkhand and Himachal Pradesh a miss this year, for a variety of reasons. Additionally, the cascading effect of the Gorkhaland agitation last year had robbed the region of almost all business during Durga Puja and New Year, which heightened the interest of the tourists this year.

“According to our estimates, there is an increase of around 45% in the tourist inflow compared to 2016,” said Debasish Maitra, president of the Eastern Himalaya Travel and Tour Operators’ Association.

“One of the biggest reasons for the surge is that people have given a miss to Kerala in the aftermath of the floods and Jammu and Kashmir due to the lawand-order problem. Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh have also failed to draw tourists due to floods and shortage of potable water. The entire tourist traffic has come to the Darjeeling-Sikkim-Bhutan belt this year,” said Maitra.

The Silk Route, along with Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Gangtok, are the top picks this season. “We market the whole region to tourists, including Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Darjeeling and Kalimpong. A large number of tourists are also travelling to Bhutan this year,” Maitra added.

The flow of tourists in the Hills generally ebbs after Durga Puja and picks up around the third week of December. But this year, guided tours and hotels are already booked till the second week of November. There is a major crunch of vehicles to ferry tourists to their destinations, forcing many to travel at night. However, tour operators have advised against this to prevent accidents.

In Darjeeling, hotel owners have already started receiving queries for March and April. “There was no vacancy in entire Darjeeling during Durga Puja. More than 60% of the rooms are still booked,” said a hotel owner in Darjeeling.

The homestays in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Sikkim are also in demand due to their affordability and locations. “Homestays are situated in remote locations and close to nature, which many tourists prefer,” said Prasant Pradhan, general secretary of the Himalayan Homestay Owners’ Association.

In Sikkim, Ravangla, Pelling and Namchi were popular picks for the tourists apart from Gangtok. “There was a huge rush of tourists in Sikkim during Durga Puja. The weather was also nice which enhanced their experience. There were tourists in most of the hotels and homestays there,” said Chewang Puljor, deputy director at the Kolkata office of Sikkim Tourism Department.