Darjeeling Tourism In Doldrums

Joy Roy Choudhury - Kolkata

Prolonged bandhs, perennial scarcity of water and opportunistic politics have together wrecked the tourism fortunes of the small hill-town of Darjeeling nestled in the foothills of the Kanchenjunga in Northern West Bengal. Consequently Darjeeling has gone from 'favoured retreat' and 'Queen of the Hills' to a 'trouble-prone area'.

Of the three famous Ts in Darjeeling, tourism, tea and timbre, only tourism had survived the onslaught of time. With tea in the doldrums and timber gone, nearly the entire population of this town and surrounding areas depends in one way or another on tourism. But adding to their woes the numbers of domestic and foreign tourists are dwindling with each passing day. Initially, things were much improved but once the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) led 'Gorkhaland' agitation started in the hills in the 80s, the situation worsened and so did the plight of the local tourism industry.

After years of disturbances, a tripartite treaty was signed between the Union Government, the Government of West Bengal and the GNLF in 1988 and an Autonomous Council, 'Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council' was set up under the chairmanship of the GNLF supremo Subhas Ghisingh. Three sub-divisions of Darjeeling district, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Darjeeling were brought under the administrative control of DGHC.

The scarcity of water was another major setback to tourism in the hill-town. So much so that very few investors ventured to set up hotels in Darjeeling. Instead they flocked to nearby Sikkim. Darjeeling's loss proved to be Sikkim's gain. "Sikkim has moved ahead of us in terms of tourism and investments. The government of Sikkim is pro-active to the needs of investors," laments S Chakraborty, owner of two mid-sized hotels in Darjeeling. Chakraborty further added that the two main factors - scarcity of water and political instability in the hills have driven away tourists from Darjeeling to Sikkim.

G Anand Mirania, owner of a small hotel in the town echoed the same sentiments, "Things were quite good before the Gorkhaland movement started. But after GNLF started calling the serial strikes, the number of tourists dropped drastically." Pradeep Lama, general secretary, Darjeeling Association of Travel Agents, accused Ghisingh of neglecting tourism, the economic backbone of Darjeeling along with its world famous tea.

However, Ghisingh as chairman of DGHC and councilor in charge of tourism has made several foreign trips to promote Darjeeling as a tourist spot but nothing concrete has come out from these visits. The Tourism Department of Government of West Bengal too has stopped promoting 'Darjeeling' as a tourist destination as it comes under the purview of DGHC-Tourism.

In conclusion, Sushil Agarwal of Hill Tours and Travels mentioned that, "We expected more business out of the hill sector this summer since sea-resorts are drawing lesser crowds due to the tsunami. So those specialising in the hill travel expected better deal this season. But political instability in the hills has marred our business prospects."