2.81 lakh tourists visit Sikkim in five months in 2009
Gangtok (PTI)12.July 2009: In spite of economic slowdown and limited infrastructure in the hospitality sector, around 2.80 lakh tourists visited Sikkim in the first five months of this year, according to figures released by the tourism officials.
A staggering 35 per cent growth has been recorded in the arrival of domestic tourists between January and May this year at 2.73 lakh as against the corresponding tally of two lakh last year, but at the same time the number of foreign tourists dipped by nearly ten per cent at 7812 in this duration as against 8690 last year.
Most of the domestic tourists came from various destinations in West Bengal even as a large number of people from the southern and western states too visited the state to enjoy the cool climate and pristine natural places like Nathu La this summer, the tourism officials said.
On the dip in the foreign tourists' numbers this year, the official attributed it to the ongoing economic downturn as well as the perceptions against the terrorism and other insurgencies in various parts of the country, they said.
However, the post-monsoon months may witness a surge in the number of visitors to the border state as has been the case in the past years to enable us to achieve the target of five lakh tourists, the officials said.
It may be mentioned that the Himalayan State has declared the year 2010 as the Year of Tourism and lined up as many as 13 festivals to woo the visitors in its thrust to develop the tourism industry as its main source of revenue and employment in the long term.
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