TMC to highlight tour growth in campaign

AVIJIT SINHA, TT, 19 March 2019, Siliguri: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the Trinamul Congress will highlight growth of tourism industry in north Bengal over the past few years during the campaign for Darjeeling Lok Sabha candidate Amar Singh Rai.

Rai belongs to the Morcha but will contest on the Trinamul symbol.

Trinamul has claimed there was exponential growth in the tourism sector in terms of infrastructure and revenue, especially in the Darjeeling hills, since the party came to power in Bengal in 2011.

"Tourism has generated highest employment opportunities in the Darjeeling hills and the adjoining areas in the past eight years because of the initiatives taken by the state government. New tourist destinations were developed and infrastructure improved. Boost in tourism is one of the achievements of the Mamata Banerjee government and Trinamul and the Morcha will highlight it during the campaign in the Darjeeling parliamentary constituency," said a Trinamul leader based in the hills.

Stakeholders of the tourism sector also accepted that the region had witnessed growth in the travel trade.

"There were investments A homestay in the Darjeeling hills. File picture both by the state government and private players. A number of new hotels have come up, both in the hills and the plains. New destinations, whether Lamahatta in the hills or Bhorer Alo in the plains, have been developed and are attracting tourists," said Debasish Maitra, the president of the Eastern Himalaya Travel and Tour Operators' Association.

The tour operators said around one lakh people had been employed in the sector, directly and indirectly, in the current decade.

"Emergence of homestays have opened new avenues of income for people living in the rural and remote areas. The t homestays have become most r sought-after accommodatio, ns," said Samrat Sanyal, the . general secretary of the Hir malayan Hospitality & Tourr ism Development Network.