Tourists flock back to the Queen of Hills; raise hopes

Amitava Banerjee | MP | 31 Dec 2020 | Darjeeling: A long queue in front of the famous breakfast joint Keventers; an equally long queue in front of the famous bakery and restaurant Glenary's- this is what has been greeting the eyes in the Queen of the Hills since the past few days. Its business time once again in Darjeeling. 

After months of lull owing to the pandemic, tourists have started flocking back. 

"It's very heartening to see that people are travelling overcoming fear. Though of a very short duration, the Christmas- New Year tourist season seems good. Most of the homestays and hotels both in the Hills and Dooars are booked. 

It is mainly tourists from within the state along with Mumbai and Gujarat visiting these parts," stated Samrat Sanyal, General Secretary, Himalayan Hospitality and Tourism Development Network. Incidentally the travel trade industry had to bear the brunt of the pandemic and the lockdown, incurring huge losses. 

"However things look positive with the return of the tourists. Since December 22 we have been having a good flow. This will be continuing till around January 7, 2021. We hope 2021 will bring in good tidings and the tourism industry will be able to bounce back," stated Suman Baraily, General Manager of the Central Group of Hotels. 

Such has been the rush that the iconic bakery Glenary's ran out of Christmas cakes days before Christmas. 

"This is the first time in the history of Glenary's that we ran out of Christmas cakes. We usually bake around 5000 cakes for Christmas. This year we baked 3000 given the pandemic situation. By December 23 all the cakes were sold out. There were no cakes available on Christmas day and the same will hold true for New Year's day as it takes almost a month to prepare these cakes," stated Ajoy Edwards of Glenary's. 

Every year 8 lakh domestic and 40,000 foreign tourists visit Darjeeling. "For how long can we remain confined? I could not resist visiting Darjeeling and I don't regret it. The clear blue skies and the majestic Kanchenjunga is reason enough," stated Satyaki Banerjee, a tourist from Kolkata. 

(http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/tourists-flock-back-to-the-queen-of-hills-raise-hopes-428009)