Vacationers Planning for Tour during Puja Holidays Worried Due to Recent ongoing Strikes in the Darjeeling Hills

With the ongoing strikes in the hills of Darjeeling for a demand of separate state for Gorkhas “Gorkhaland”, tourists who have made advance booking of packages for holidays in Darjeeling during Puja Vacation are bit worried.

Tour operators are worried as the bandhs has brought bad impact over the industry and they have kept their finger crossed and have appealed all the political parties to keep the tourism industry out from the purview of strikes. From the tourism industry, the sizeable population of the hills earns their living. Us and UK travel advisories have advised their citizens to be careful before planning trips to DarjeelingJUST CLICK AWAY…http://www.darjeelingtourismpackages.com as the crisis in the hills is going to worsen due to strikes and the people agitation for the demand of Gorkhaland.

Though it is an off season, there were still 30% to 35% bookings from students and corporate houses but now it is already cancelled. Booking for the Pujas had just started and people were keen to visit the hills as the West Bengal Tourism department is holding road shows in several states. The booking due to the strikes have come down and now even the tourists are asking was has to be done if the strikes continue. We have no answer of the query from tourists. Year 2012 and the half of 2013 has shown good sign for tourism and this year we expected of having a good tourism season due to the disaster in Uttarakhand and the trouble in the Valley of Jammu and Kashmir, Said Tapas Roy, Secretary, Eastern Himalayan Tour and Travel Operators’ Association (EHTTAO).

The US Department of State has state in its advisory, “The United States Department of State has stated in its advisory: "All US citizens residing or travelling in Darjeeling Hills and Dooars districts of West Bengal should monitor local media for strike updates, anticipate major transportation disruptions, and avoid all demonstrations. Even peaceful demonstrations can turn challenging and rise into violence. You should avoid areas of demonstrations, and exercise caution if in the vicinity of any large gatherings, protests, or demonstrations."

According to the graph, 1.75 tourists (15000 foreigners) visit to Darjeeling every year. According to the Roy, the annual business volume is in the tune of Rs. 4oo crore and out of that 65% is ploughed back to the local economy. Nearly 50% of the population benefits from the tourism industry, directly or indirectly.

“ Hopes are still alive and we are keeping faith on this. In the past strikes has been called off on two or three occasion. In Kerala, tourism wasn’t affected during the Bharat Bandh. In Nepal, the government arranged green buses for tourists when the country was having moist trouble. We have appealed to all the political parties to keep the tourism industry out from the strikes purview”, Roy added.

“With the ongoing strikes in the hills called by GJMM, there are no new queries. The one who have made advance bookings are also calling up to inquire, what they should or they should cancel their bookings. We are trying our best to make them understand that it is too earlier and if the things go right, GJMM would call of the strikes as done earlier. It is good to stay for some more time as things might get improve in times to come. We were expecting good business from the hills due to the natural calamity in Uttarakhand. People are in uneasy to travel in the valley Jammu and Kashmir and are also avoiding places in Andhra Pradesh due to Telangana Movement, “Singh Said.

Thus the hills tourism industry this year is badly affected by the bandhs and very soon if this continues, the million dollar industry of Hills, which is said to be the backbone of the hills is going to get crippled. We can only keep hope and keep our finger crossed, so that things get well and back to normal in the hills.