Tourism sector stakeholders of the hills have got a morale booster given the huge inflow of tourists right from the beginning of this year’s tourism season. As per industry sources, tourist footfalls have increased this year to what can be termed as ‘sufficient’.
Most visitors are domestic, fleeing the sweltering heat of the country’s plains, and they are giving hoteliers and travel service providers in the hills an opportunity to revel.
Tourist inflows that started surging from mid-March had reached their peak by the end of May. Huge crowds of visitors could be seen across hotels and resorts in Lava, Resep, Loleygaon, Kafer, Reshi and Pedong, the hotspots under Kalimpong sub-division.
Rajeeb Shahi, who runs a resort in Resep, a new tourist spot near Lava, told this correspondent he is satisfied with the number of visitors his place received from across the country. He said the inflow of tourists in the summer season usually starts from mid-March and it was satisfactory enough this year, but he was surprised to witness visitor numbers increasing exponentially with May’s onset.
The sources said footfalls will decline by mid-June as the rainy season begins then, but they will rise again by October. Hotel bookings for October have already begun, they added.
“Despite the acute shortage of water and the poor condition of the roads here, the number of tourists is increasing each year,” said Shahi, who is also the president of the Resep Hotel Owners’ Association. “Had the concerned government departments focused on developing infrastructure for promoting tourism further, the industry would have scaled new heights.”
Hotel owners and other industry players in Kalimpong rally behind Shahi in his observations. Lenin Chettri, a taxi driver, acknowledged earnings this season have been good and the region’s tourism industry, which had been severely disrupted by political unrest in the recent past, is gradually regaining its lost verve. He wished the town’s economy well give the present state of affairs.
PRADEEP LOHAGUN
Source: EOI
Tourist inflows that started surging from mid-March had reached their peak by the end of May. Huge crowds of visitors could be seen across hotels and resorts in Lava, Resep, Loleygaon, Kafer, Reshi and Pedong, the hotspots under Kalimpong sub-division.
Rajeeb Shahi, who runs a resort in Resep, a new tourist spot near Lava, told this correspondent he is satisfied with the number of visitors his place received from across the country. He said the inflow of tourists in the summer season usually starts from mid-March and it was satisfactory enough this year, but he was surprised to witness visitor numbers increasing exponentially with May’s onset.
The sources said footfalls will decline by mid-June as the rainy season begins then, but they will rise again by October. Hotel bookings for October have already begun, they added.
“Despite the acute shortage of water and the poor condition of the roads here, the number of tourists is increasing each year,” said Shahi, who is also the president of the Resep Hotel Owners’ Association. “Had the concerned government departments focused on developing infrastructure for promoting tourism further, the industry would have scaled new heights.”
Hotel owners and other industry players in Kalimpong rally behind Shahi in his observations. Lenin Chettri, a taxi driver, acknowledged earnings this season have been good and the region’s tourism industry, which had been severely disrupted by political unrest in the recent past, is gradually regaining its lost verve. He wished the town’s economy well give the present state of affairs.
PRADEEP LOHAGUN
Source: EOI
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