The ongoing political turmoil in northern West Bengal has badly influenced festive season tourism business prospect of adjoining state Sikkim. Though the movement is apparently at declining phase now, the damage already taken place is not likely to get reversed for the himalayan state that hosts very high dependency on Tourism.
"The situation definitely deserves a serious consideration as our state has witnessed very high number of booking cancellations," said PD Rai, the only Loksabha MP from Sikkim.
According to T Roy, Secretary Eastern Himalayan Tour and Travel Operators Association, Darjeeling has witnessed over 80% cancellations following eruption of the political turmoil in first week of August, peak booking period for festive season. And, "Near 70% of travelers, arriving this region, prefer tagging up Sikkim and Darjeeling. So, any cancellation at any side causes huge business loss for both the sides," explained veteran tour operator and tourism advisor to Government of Sikkim R Basu.
"UK or USA have issued refreshed travel alert advising all their citizens to avoid traveling in Darjeeling region. These are also creating serious impact for the entire region including Sikkim," said S Sanyal, Director of a major tour operating house.
As the tourism arena estimation goes, Sikkim contributes around 40% of annual travel business volume of around Rs 400 crore of this region.
With 82% of its 7000 sq km geographic area under forest cover, 3% under Glaciers and 14% under round the year snow cover, Sikkim is a hotspot for tourism with its hilly terrain ranging from 900 ft to 28,000ft altitude above mean sea level.
"Sikkim's high dependency on tourism revenue makes us keen on utilizing this potential without jeopardizing our rich biodiversity and sensitive ecology," said Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling. His ministry has already prepared a tourism mission with a target of 10 lakh domestic tourist and 40 thousand foreign tourists per annum by 2015 against existing figures of around 7 lakh and 20 thousand respectively.
The state's tourism trade had a difficult jolt due to a devastating earthquake on 18th September 2011 that killed near 125 people. "The state had come back in an excellent way with high tourism inflow in 2012. This year, the initial trends was even better. But the scenario became too gloomy now," said Basu.
According to T Roy, Secretary Eastern Himalayan Tour and Travel Operators Association, Darjeeling has witnessed over 80% cancellations following eruption of the political turmoil in first week of August, peak booking period for festive season. And, "Near 70% of travelers, arriving this region, prefer tagging up Sikkim and Darjeeling. So, any cancellation at any side causes huge business loss for both the sides," explained veteran tour operator and tourism advisor to Government of Sikkim R Basu.
"UK or USA have issued refreshed travel alert advising all their citizens to avoid traveling in Darjeeling region. These are also creating serious impact for the entire region including Sikkim," said S Sanyal, Director of a major tour operating house.
As the tourism arena estimation goes, Sikkim contributes around 40% of annual travel business volume of around Rs 400 crore of this region.
With 82% of its 7000 sq km geographic area under forest cover, 3% under Glaciers and 14% under round the year snow cover, Sikkim is a hotspot for tourism with its hilly terrain ranging from 900 ft to 28,000ft altitude above mean sea level.
"Sikkim's high dependency on tourism revenue makes us keen on utilizing this potential without jeopardizing our rich biodiversity and sensitive ecology," said Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling. His ministry has already prepared a tourism mission with a target of 10 lakh domestic tourist and 40 thousand foreign tourists per annum by 2015 against existing figures of around 7 lakh and 20 thousand respectively.
The state's tourism trade had a difficult jolt due to a devastating earthquake on 18th September 2011 that killed near 125 people. "The state had come back in an excellent way with high tourism inflow in 2012. This year, the initial trends was even better. But the scenario became too gloomy now," said Basu.
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