Festive season surge in the hills burns a hole in tourists’

Deep Gazmer, TNN, Nov 9, 2018, DARJEELING: The Darjeeling district administration has clamped down on taxi drivers over-charging tourists.

Tourists to the Hills complain the transportation component of their travel budgets is going haywire with taxi drivers charging them exorbitantly.

There should be stricter monitoring of this sector. Thousands of tourists visit these places and fleecing can have a long-term impact on tourism, one of the biggest industries of the region.

A normal pick up and drop from New Jalpaiguri (NJP) or Bagdogra airport to a hotel in Darjeeling costs Rs 2,200. So does a return journey. Tourists, however, are shelling out as much as Rs 3,500 to Rs 4,000 for the same.

The ordeal becomes worse when tourists hire vehicles for sight-seeing. Rates get inflated with a package tour to popular spots like Tiger Hill, Rock Garden or the seven points ranging between Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,600 per vehicle though the actual rates range between Rs 2,700 to Rs 3,000. Similarly, visits to Kalimpong from Darjeeling and sight-seeing costs tourists around Rs 3,500 while the rates for Gangtok and Dooars range between Rs 2,500 and Rs 4,000 - Rs 4,500 per vehicle, respectively.

The district administration said it was aware taxi drivers are fleecing tourists and has stepped in to stop it. “We have been informed that tourists are being over-charged. We have started conducting raids in Siliguri and the Hills,” said Joyoshi Das Gupta, Darjeeling district magistrate.

“We have a fixed rate for peak and off-seasons. However, many tourists get into contracts with drivers, who overcharge them,” said Pradeep Lama, tour operator and general secretary of Darjeeling Association of Travel Agents (DATA)