The landslides were largely in Mirik, but the tremor reached Darjeeling not through faultlines but timelines of tourists deserting this famous hill town.
“A single sweeping statement — landslides in Darjeeling, often shared and reshared on various social media platforms — made tourists vacate many unaffected parts of Darjeeling,” lamented a hotelier in Darjeeling town.
The Sunday landslide largely hit the Mirik-Sukhiapokhri region, and apart from the first day, travelling to Darjeeling town has never been a problem.
“Only the route to Mirik from Siliguri has been affected as of today. The routes to Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Sikkim are open for tourists,” the hotelier said.
Mirik and Darjeeling are 37km apart.
Darjeeling can be reached from Siliguri via Pankhabari and NH10. Restoration work on Rohini Road has also started. Kalimpong and Sikkim are accessible by NH10.
The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway resumed its services from New Jalpaiguri on Thursday.
Many hotels in Darjeeling said that they had good bookings during this “Puja season”.
“After the Sunday landslides, cancellation just flooded other parts of the hills,” the hotelier said.
Hoteliers are hopeful that the “ground reality” will slowly become clear and bookings will return. “We are slowly getting some enquiries and we are hopeful that the tourist flow will pick up,” said a hotelier.
Many hoteliers who have taken properties on lease maintain that it will be
difficult to sustain if business remains dull during this
period.
“Lease amount for decent hotels varies from ₹1.5 lakh to ₹3 lakh per room per annum, depending on the location. It will be difficult to sustain if business does not pick up now,” a lessee said.
On Friday, the tourism and civil aviation department of Sikkim issued an advisory for tourists visiting the Himalayan state.
“This is to inform all tourists visiting Sikkim that National Highway 10 (NH-10), the main route connecting Sikkim, is at present open for travel. Likewise, all State Highways within Sikkim are also open and motorable,” the advisory read.
Hoteliers in Sikkim maintain that the industry has been badly affected since the glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in October 2023.
“After the GLOF, the tourist inflow has not picked up. The recent landslides in Darjeeling have not helped, as many travellers prefer the circuit of the Darjeeling hills and Sikkim,” said a hotel owner in Gangtok.