A delegation of 16 tour operators and travel house owners of Bangladesh reached Alipurduar district on Friday to visit different tourist spots and collect information about the sites so that they could promote the Dooars circuit in their country.
Their visit coincided with the reopening of reserve forests. After a gap of three months, Jaldapara National Park, Buxa Tiger Reserve, Gorumara National Park, Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary and Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary reopened for tourists on Friday.
The delegation of the Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh (TOAB) visited Jaldapara, Jayanti and Chilapata forests, which are popular tourist spots in the Dooars.
“This is our first visit to the Dooars and we are overwhelmed by the enchanting forests and landscape of the region. Our aim is to expedite cross-border tourism and send tourists from our country to the Dooars, along with the Darjeeling hills and Sikkim,” said S.M. Hafijur Rehman, an advisor of TOAB.
In north Bengal, the highest number of foreign tourists comes from Bangladesh. Since 2018, the number of Bangladeshi tourists increased because the Centre had allowed their entry into Sikkim. Biplab Dey, the joint secretary of the Dooars Tourism Development Welfare Society, was part of the delegation.
He said the introduction of Mitali Express (a train that runs between Dhaka and New Jalpaiguri) had created a huge opportunity for north Bengal and Sikkim as well as Bangladesh.“Earlier, one had to take a bus to reach this region or take a flight to Calcutta and then travel here. This means the transport cost was higher and a section of Bangladeshi nationals, who could not afford such costs, would drop the region from itinerary. As the train service is available, we expect they will turn up here,” he said.
Rehman said: “We want the tourism stakeholders here to promote Bangladesh also because the transport costs would be less for those who live in this region. That is why we are trying to increase the inflow of tourists along the India-Bangladesh border as it would benefit the tourism sector of both the countries,” he said.
The Bangladeshi delegates have said the Dooars is just an hour’s journey from NJP or the land ports of Fulbari (in Jalpaiguri district) and Changrabandha (in Cooch Behar district). “We will jointly promote the locations and invited the tour operators of the Dooars to an international travel fair which we will host in March next year in Bangladesh,” said Md. Sajibul Al Rajib, another representative of TOAB.