Sikkim eyes good winter tourism: Darjeeling looks on

MANASR BANNERJEE & REZA PRADHAN, SNS, Siliguri And Darjeeling, 29 Nov: Snowfall at Tsongmo Lake, popularly known as Chhangu Lake, since last night may give the tourism industry in Sikkim a bigger boost ahead of Christmas than the Hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, tour operators said today.

While Sikkim may be staring at a tourism boom in this winter, those in the industry in Darjeeling said the bookings this season have slumped 90% as compared to the same period last year.

The industry took a hit in both the Darjeeling Hills and Sikkim due to the Gorkhaland agitation in the Hills that stretched for well over three months recently.Though the situation is getting back to normal gradually, the tourism industry has not yet shown signs of picking up as compared to previous years during the same time.

Also, as the industry limps back,the tourists flow is comparatively better in Sikkim than Darjeeling ahead of the Christmas season.

'People have started enquiring about Darjeeling Hills, but the rate of booking for Christmas is poor. The normal booking trend for the Christmas season in Darjeeling Hills is 85 per cent. But the present rate is a mere 20 percent.To attract tourists, hoteliers and transporters had to slash down their rates this year," said a senior tour operator, Samrat Sanyal.

In Darjeehng, many persons related to the tourism Industry claimed that that the tourist flow for the Christmas and New Year season has gone down by 90% this year."Tourist season starts in the Hills from the last week of September to November third week. Then again it picks up from December

first week and continues the second week of January, but this time, there weren't many tourists in the first spell, and there aren't many for December too. We can say that there has been a decrease of about 90% tourists this year, while enquiries are also almost nil," the general secretary of the Darjeeling Association of Travel Agents, Pradip Lama said.

Darjeeling had become a popular destination for tourists at that time of the year, with the visitors hoping to catch the first snowfall in the Hills.

"It is dull this time round.

Our hotel used to be full for Christmas and New Year, but this year, we only have about nine bookings. Enquiries are also only about five percent, with most of them asking if there were chances of a shutdown in December," the manager of a hotel near Mall Road, Devi Prasad Sarkar, said.

The popular Tiger Hill speaks volumes when it collies to prove there are less tourists in the Hills this year.The sunrise point, around 12 km from Darjeeling town, is a must-visit place for tourists. "We are only seeing around 400 to 500 tourists visiting Tiger Hill per day which is way less than in the previous years, when around 2000 tourists used to come every day " said the Tiger Hill Pavilion manager Pradip Lama.

Mr Sanyal, meanwhile, said that tourists must be taken into confidence through aggressive campaigning.

People can come to know of small matters, including information about the hills through the social media, and this has been affecting the industry adversely. But we have failed to counter the same trend by using the social media," he said. Citing an example, he added: ''Have we campaigned for the first snowfall at Changu Lake through the social media yet? Both the West Bengal government and the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) have decided to organize a tourism festival in Darjeeling in the last week of December. Have we started campaigning for this through the social media after it was reported by the media on 21-22 November?"

"We should have started campaigning for the Tourism Festival aggressively because this festival would help the tourism industry in Darjeeling Hills and the adjoining Hill stations of Kurseong and Kalimnpong to a great extent," Mr Sanyal said.

"The CIA should start campaigning by showcasing the proposed event as an International Tourism Festival," a senior tour operator said.