Tourist spots in state set to witness massive footfall: it is now expecting a boom in inflow of tourists in north Bengal

Most of the destinations have been booked from early October till Diwali. 

Pradip Chatterjee | MP | 7 Sept 2022 | Kolkata: All the tourist spots in the hills and forests of North Bengal and also the beach towns in the South Bengal will witness a record footfall during Puja this year as most of the destinations have been booked from early October till Diwali. 

After the tourism industry had received a major blow in the past two years due to the curtailment and restrictions imposed due to Covid, it is now expecting a boom in inflow of tourists in north Bengal which might break the records the state had earlier seen during the puja season. 

Over 70 per cent of hotel rooms have already been booked in the Hills and in Dooars by the end of August and the rest of the accommodations will also be filled up very soon. The homestays are also seeing a huge demand. People are showing more interest in travelling to rural and off-beat destinations than in the main towns, said Ujjal Ghosh, a senior official of Federation of Bengal Hotels. 

The economy of all the Himalayan destinations such as Darjeeling and Kalimpong, and also the forests of the Dooars are eying a revival in the business after the past two years of Covid curtailment. 

All the small tour operators are also expecting a brisk business as almost all the tickets of all north Bengal bound trains have been booked. All the government accommodations in the region are nearly full between October 1 and 10, during the Durga Puja vacations, sources said. 

The Eastern Railway has announced two special trains between Kolkata and New Jalpaiguri in Siliguri in October. The Northeast Frontier Railway will also operate four new toy train joy rides in Darjeeling during the festive season. The rides will run between Darjeeling and Ghum from October. 

Raj Basu, convenor of the Association for Conservation of Tourism said that most of the tourist spots in forests and hills of Bengal have been booked from early October till after Diwali. 

After the Durga Puja in Kolkata was included in UNESCO's representative list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2021, many of the foreign tourists are also showing interest in coming to visit here. 

Domestic tourists will also visit Darjeeling hills, forests and tea gardens in the Dooars and Terai region of the state and also to Sikkim. 

http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/puja-tourist-spots-in-state-set-to-witness-massive-footfall-492202