Tiger Hill car cap stokes tourist worry

TT, 6 September 2019, Siliguri: Worries about the inflow of tourists have mounted after a meeting on Thursday to examine vehicle restrictions to Tiger Hill, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Darjeeling, did not throw up any decision.

State tourism minister Gautam Deb had convened the meeting here to discuss on the apprehensions articulated by those associated with travel trade, following imposition of restriction on the number of vehicles which would ferry tourists to Tiger Hill, by the Darjeeling district police from September 1. The decision was made to decongest the area.

The police have also come up with a directive mentioning that every day, 300 vehicles would be allowed to visit Tiger Hill. For this, they are issuing free passes to vehicles on first come, first serve basis.

At the meeting that was held at the minister's office in Mainak Tourist Lodge complex, senior officials of the district police and administration were present, along with representatives from the tourism industry.

After the meet, as no new decision was made on the issue, the travel industry representatives sounded disappointed.

"Most tourists make advance reservations for a trip to Darjeeling. Many foreigners plan their itinerary and make bookings even couple of years in advance. The new traffic rule will create problem for them and also for domestic tourists, as Tiger Hill is one of the cherished destinations. We wanted the government and the police to come up with some alternative options but nothing happened," said S.N. Pradhan, an adviser to the Himalayan Hospitality Tourism Development Network (HTDN) and also the president of Himalayan Transport Coor- dination Committee.

The HHTDN that has mem- bers from among hoteliers, tour operators, transporters and homestay owners, had written to chief minister Ma- mata Banerjee, seeking her in- tervention. During peak sea- son, around 1,800 vehicles carry tourists to Tiger Hill every day, they had said.

Pradip Lama, the spokes- person of West Bengal Touri- sm Forum, was equally upset.

"Tiger Hill is one of the major tourist attractions and such stern steps will deprive many tourists to visit the unique view point from where they can see the sunrise and the Himalayan peaks, includ- ing Mount Everest. We apprehend that the restriction can even reduce tourist inflow as a section of people would feel disenchanted because there is no guaranty that they can visit the location during their trip due to the restriction in number of vehicles," said Lama.

The minister, when asked about the meeting, however, sounded hopeful.

"I will apprise the chief minister about the issue. It has also been decided that the district magistrate will soon hold a meeting with the principal secretary of GTA, the district police chief and those related with tourism sector. The DM will get their opinion and inform the chief secretary and the principal secretary of tourism department," said Deb.