Tourism and travel trade industry stakeholders of N Bengal urge to meet CM during her visit to Siliguri

 

Darjeeling: In an assessment of tourism-related issues prevalent on ground zero in North Bengal, it was decided that an umbrella organisation comprising all stakeholder groups will be constituted soon. The committee urges to meet and submit a memorandum to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her visit to Siliguri, suggesting measures to promote tourism under the present pandemic situation. A meeting of various stakeholder groups was held at the Gymkhana club in Darjeeling on Wednesday. "It has been decided that an umbrella organization consisting of representatives of the different stakeholder groups including hotels, homestays, transport, travel agencies, adventure tourism, rafting, paragliding and others will be constituted at the earliest. The new committee will meet Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her visit to North Bengal" stated Prasant Raj Pradhaan, Secretary, Darjeeling Homestay Owners Association.

The Chief Minister will be in Siliguri from September 21 to September 23. "We have approached the tourism minister Gautam Deb and have requested him to get us an appointment with the Chief Minister. We would like to meet her and update her about the hardships faced by the industry at present. We are thankful to the Chief Minister as she has chosen North Bengal as her first destination while starting her district tours. We strongly believe that her visit will help the industry too. We welcome her to North Bengal" stated Samrat Sanyal of the Himalayan Hospital and Tourism Development Network. The meeting chalked out steps to put the tourism and travel trade back on track. The steps include waiver of electricity bills, GST, municipal taxes, trade license fees during the lockdown period; Expediting homestay registration process; Receiving Rs. 1,50,000 as working capital by homestay owners on registering under West Bengal Homestay Policy Act 2017; Increase in moratorium period for loan repayment; Covid-19 insurance for all employees, owners and drivers; Waiver of taxes and penalty on commercial vehicles till December 31, 2020.

These issues will be placed before the Chief Minister for consideration. There are around 3,300 hotels in Sikkim and North Bengal. The number of homestays in North Bengal is around 2500. Every year 8 lakh domestic and 40,000 foreign tourists visit the Darjeeling Hills. "We are taking consolidated steps to revive the tourism industry in this region. We will also be approaching the GTA for help," stated Sangay Bhutia, President of the Hotel Owners Association, Darjeeling. With enquiries have started coming in for the Puja holidays Sanyal stated that more trains have to run to NJP and the road to the Darjeeling Hills also needs to be repaired before the tourist season.

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