Located in the foothills of the Himalayas, Darjeeling is a town in the Indian state of West Bengal which is well known for its world-famous Darjeeling tea, stunning views of the mountains, including Mount Kanchenjunga, the third highest peak in the world, and most importantly, its culture. The town has a rich cultural heritage influenced by its diverse population, including Nepalis, Tibetans, Bengalis, and British colonial history. It also hosts several festivals and fairs, reflecting its vibrant local culture. With major tourist destinations such as the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), Tiger Hill which is famous for sunrise views,
Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, various monasteries and botanical gardens, the town has been able to attract a lot of tourist in the past, but this year there has been a massive increase in the number of tourist who have visited the town. This year, one of the major attracting factors is the chilled, cool weather. In times of scorching heat waves across many states of the country, Darjeeling’s pleasant weather has been one of the major reasons for tourists loving this town. When asked about tourism in Darjeeling by Mr Yawan Tamang, a staff member of the “Mount Hotels,” which is just behind the famous Rink mall in Darjeeling, he said that this year’s heat waves during this summer have been one of the reasons for a huge number of tourists to visit Darjeeling and talking about this, he also gave a reference about their hotel
“Mount Hotel” and said, “We have a number of rooms which are mostly full every day and it has been more than a month since our hotel room has been empty.” He also said that tourism plays a very important role in Darjeeling’s economy and they are more than happy to welcome guest from every part of the country or even world. The room rates in Darjeeling start from Rs 3000 to 4500 per day, which means that the tourist must at least carry more than Rs 20000 for a week’s trip if they want to really enjoy everything in this town. However, when asked about the disadvantages of this growing tourism, he said, “ one of the major problems that we face in Darjeeling is proper traffic and waste management, We see locals struggling to find a vehicle in the town to reach their workplace and this especially affects the students and teachers who often get late to school, and during times of medical emergencies, the situation is even worse. We even see some of the guests not maintaining the cleanliness of the town but instead littering the streets and causing a problem.”
After the summer vacation, we are most likely to see a little bit of a decrease in the number of tourists but after that, during the “Puja vacation,” the town will again be filled with tourists, and if these issues are not addressed, then the same problem will again be continued. Situated in West Bengal, which is world-famous for Durga Puja, the people of Darjeeling also celebrate the festivals of Dasai and Diwali in the months of October and November; hence, when asked about the bookings regarding the Puja Festival season, Mr Yawan said that they haven’t yet started the booking but they soon will begin and said that there is
definitely going to be an increase in the price of the room rates as many people are attracted towards the culture of this town and the prices for almost everything get high during this festive season. Darjeeling is a town which is developing at a quite good pace and has got a huge potential of becoming a world-famous tourist destination but only with proper management and maintenance the town’s situation can be improved and this is the job of the ones who are in power i.e the leaders it is high time that we give this town the value that it deserves and use its potential before it’s too late so that the tourist can enjoy the beauty of this hill station and at the same time the daily lives of locals will also not be negatively affected.
