Siliguri: The Himalayan Hospitality and Tourism Development Network (HHTDN) is set to organise the 6th edition of the Bengal Himalayan Carnival from January 30 to February 1 across Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Jalpaiguri districts.
The event aims to strengthen tourism coordination across the hills, Terai, Dooars and Sikkim, with a special focus this year on rural tourism and business networking.
Announcing the event at a press conference in Siliguri on Tuesday, HHTDN representatives said the carnival will feature a ‘Rural Tourism Business Meet’, bringing together tourism stakeholders from across India.
The Adventure Tour Operators Association of India, Nepal Tourism representatives, and the Tourism department of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) will participate in the event.
Several local organisations, including the United Sittong Homestay Welfare Society and the Gorumara Tourism Association, will also take part.
Samrat Sanyal, the secretary of HHTDN, said: “Nearly 90 per cent of tourists visiting this region come from within West Bengal. We want travellers from across India to discover that Bengal too has mountains, unique cultures and vast adventure tourism potential.” The carnival will commence on January 30 from Chalsa, with a marathon race organised from Chalsa Golai to Murti.
The event will showcase the cultural harmony of diverse communities and promote lesser-known destinations such as Lava, Rishyap, Gorubathan, Tode and Tangta, aiming to make them more visible to tourists. On January 31 and February 1, the carnival will be held at Sittong and Kafergaon in Kalimpong. While Sittong will highlight its growing reputation for tea and cinchona cultivation, along with its well-known orange produce, Kafergaon will focus on presenting its tourism potential.
Around 27 to 30 tour operators from Kochi, Delhi, Patna and Kerala are expected to attend, along with 10 birdwatching teams who will prepare a detailed report to be submitted to the Tourism department. Dawa Sherpa, the spokesperson of the GTA Tourism department, said: “In many hill areas, outside investors are running homestays, but they cannot truly offer visitors the taste of our local culture. At the same time, our youth are migrating to other states for work. Through this carnival, we want to motivate them to start small homestays.”