ITANAGAR, 13 Aug: An ‘exposure-cum-study tour’ for tourism stakeholders to the rural villages of North Bengal and Sikkim concluded on Saturday.
During the tour, conducted by the tourism department, stakeholders, including tour operators, homestay operators, rural tourism entrepreneurs and panchayat leaders, gained in-depth knowledge about operation of homestays and rural tourism.
In Tinchulay, a small helmet in Darjeeling, where the first homestay in India was established in 1995, Rangli Rangliot Homestay Association president Norbu G Lama dwelt on the evolution of homestays in the region, especially the colonial and heritage homestays, and the benefit of homestays for the local communities.
The team also visited a local secondary school (a colonial bungalow of 1911 converted into a school), where Tourism Deputy Director Bengia Manna Sonam informed the students about the tourism potentials of Arunachal Pradesh.
The team was also taken to Asia’s first orchid research centre in Tagdah, the Ghoom museum, the UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the toy train.
The 17-member team first reached Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, where they met with Lukendra Rasaily, chairman of the Sikkim Tourism Development Corporation, Birendra Tamling, IPR adviser to the Sikkim government, officials of Sikkim Tourism, and representatives of the Travel Agents Association of Sikkim, the Sikkim Homestay Association, and the Sikkim Adventure Association.
