Recent natural calamities in the hills don’t appear to be a deterrent for the travel-obsessed in Bengal, who are headed to north Bengal and to the northeast, making the hilly belt a popular destination this winter.
Tour operators said that north Bengal is today popular like never before among tourists from Kolkata and around, with the traffic rising steadily by about 15% every year. This wasn’t the case, they said, until about a decade ago, when a large number of people also went to seaside destinations, including Digha and Puri. According to them, the explosion in the numbers headed to the hills came mainly after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There are many factors behind this. One, a number of homestays have come up in the mountain villages. Two, people can no longer afford long leave and go to distant places for holiday; they now take short leave several times a year, and north Bengal serves as an ideal destination because it is near and yet offers a good break. Three, social media — people are attracted by pictures posted by others. Four, more people can now afford a trip to the hills,” Riddha Datta of Altitude Adventure Holidays said.
“Pictures posted by others on social media are too difficult to resist,” Mr. Datta said, when asked why tourists were still bound for north Bengal in spite of the recent landslides, adding, “Also, the situation is usually not as bad as what you see in the media.”
