Tea tourism put to sleep

Siliguri, Oct. 30: Five years have passed since the government proposed tea tourism as an alternative means of income for the brew sector, but not a single project has been sanctioned till date.

“We had sent four proposals to upgrade existing infrastructure in the gardens — for example renovation of bungalows — to start tourism, but none of them were considered,” said Prabir Bhattacharjee, the secretary of the Dooars branch of the Indian Tea Association.

“The delay comes at a time when inflow of tourists is increasing in the Dooars and private resorts are mushrooming at locations like Lataguri and Jayanti.”

In 2003, when the tea industry was facing a slump, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had announced the government’s tea tourism policy at Central Dooars Club in Binnaguri.

He had then said the planters could go in for tourism projects by using available resources like employees and bungalows.

Bhattacharjee had also announced that the government would upgrade the roads leading to the tea estates — many of them located in idyllic locations.

“But the objection raised by the state land and land reforms department for using land, which had been leased to tea gardens, for other (tourism) purposes created the hurdle,” Bhattacharjee said. “We were told to earmark land necessary to create the infrastructure for tourism projects in the garden, surrender it to the department and obtain a fresh lease on it.”

With the Dooars emerging as a potential tourist destination, several tea companies are interested in launching tourism projects.

“It is time the government cleared the proposals which will not only be beneficial to us, but also for other sectors like transport, which will be indirectly associated with the projects. The government, too, will earn revenue if the tourism projects are implemented,” a planter said.

The planters also highlighted the deplorable road condition as another major impediment to the growth of tourism. “Given the pathetic state of the roads, we doubt whether any tourist will recommend the area to others,” said N.K. Basu, the principal adviser to the Indian Tea Planters’ Association.

The problems, the planters said, have been brought to the notice of Subrata Gupta, the managing director of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, during his visit here this week.

“We will take up these problems with the tourism department at an appropriate platform,” Gupta said.

Manohar Tirkey, the minister of state for public works, however, said more funds had been sought from the Centre to repair NH31 that passed through the Dooars. “Work is expected to start soon.”

Watch elephants from tea bungalow

Alipurduar, April 18: As you sit in the bungalow at Bandapani Tea Estate and look east, you can see the hills of Bhutan on the edge of the plantation. To the north flows the Dhumchi and on certain days you can see elephants cross the river from the bungalow.

Bandapani, along with Grassmore Tea Estate, has been opened to tourists by the Mohta Group of Industries. Both gardens are located in a beautiful landscape with forests, rivers and hills. Plus the elephant corridor from the Sankosh to the Mechi runs close to the Bandapani estate.

The gardens are also well connected, said Rupak Deb, the superintendent manager of the Mohta Group. Grassmore is located along NH31C in Banarhat, while Bandapani is only 14km from the highway at Birpara. Tourists there can also easily reach Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary and Gorumara national Park.

The Mohta Group turned to tourism to inject some much-needed cash into the gardens, which were not running well. “A couple of bungalows were lying unused at both Bandapani and Grassmore, so we decided to renovate them and throw them open to tourists,” said Deb.

The bungalow at Grassmore has three double bed rooms, while the one at Bandapani has four. Each room costs Rs 1,200 a night excluding food. “We have employed cooks and caretakers. If the tourists need guides or cars, we can arrange that as well,” said Anil Biswas, the manager of Bandapani.

Already 25 groups of tourists from Calcutta have come and stayed at the bungalows.

Darjeeling Tea to be called just Darjeeling

Darjeeling: Dylan and Sarah Cameron — from Leeds (UK) — are planning their 15th wedding anniversary, sometime in mid-June, in Darjeeling. “Dylan is a great lover of tea,” Sarah told HT over email. “When he read on the web that Darjeeling tea has been given Geographical Indication (GI) status, he jumped.”

The Camerons are one of the foreign ‘tea-tourists’, whose tribe will now increase given that Darjeeling’s brand equity has gone up several notches after the tea growing in the region has been accorded the international GI mark. It happened in Champagne, Bordeaux and Tequila — so, why not Darjeeling?

Last week, Forbes reported that high-end travel planner Abercrombie & Kent (A&K) was organising 14-day packages to Darjeeling and Bhutan priced at $7,000-plus per head. Bookings are full up till the beginning of October. “With Darjeeling tea being accorded GI, tea tourism is the best bet,” said Sandeep Mukherjee, secretary, Darjeeling Tea Association (DTA).

“Earlier, tea gardens were producing and selling teas but lately the gardens are diversifying towards tea tourism.” Gardens like Glenburn Tea Estate are even organising helicopter charters “on request”.

And the Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned Rs 388.98 lakh for the integrated development of the Tea Tourism Circuit in North Bengal — a big chunk of which would be allotted for Darjeeling Hills.

Recently, a two-member team from Help Tourism - an agency that organizes tour packages in the northeast -- visited France's Champagne District to understand 'Champagne Tourism'. "On the lines of Champagne Tourism, we have decided to promote tea tourism in three categories: tea tourism revolving around the old tea garden bungalows, dating back to the Raj days, tea tourism revolving around the workers' quarters and tea tourism for day-visitors," said Help's Raj Basu. All categories will involve plantation and factory visits and tea tasting. The agency promoted the idea in London and talks are on with big tea retailers who have promised a tie-up. "Watch out for www.teatourindia.com soon," added Basu.

"There's always been high-end business traffic to Darjeeling, thanks to the bulk tea purchasers, but with the GI status, Darjeeling can definitely hope to cash in on tea tourism," says Ankur Bhatia, executive director, the Bird Group, that tracks inbound tourist footfalls in India.

GI for Darjeeling tea means that it's now officially recognised that the tea grown and produced in 87 gardens in the region has special and inherent qualities, that cannot be replicated and imitated. Darjeeling tea will now be called just Darjeeling, just like Champagne (wine produced in Champagne district), Bordeaux (wine produced in Bordeaux region), Tequila (spirit made in Tequila, Mexico) or Cognac (brandy produced in Cognac).

By Amitava Banerjee and Sushmita Bose

Source: Hindustan Times

Guest at Makaibari teaching computer to tea kids

The home-stay project at Makaibari Tea Estate is helping the workers’ children with their education in school and outside it.

While workers use the extra money they earn from tourism to send their children to school, one guest has taken the efforts a step further. She is teaching computer application and English to the children outside school hours at her own cost.

Kathleen Linton, who hails from Adelaide, Australia, has been at the estate, located 3 km from here, for the past four weeks. “I was thinking of helping the poor in any part of the world. While surfing the Internet one day, I came across an organisation called i-to-i, which helps people like us do voluntary social work in different countries. From there I got to learn about this tea estate and decided to teach computer application and English to poor children here,” said the woman who works as freelancer on government-funded projects to build education websites in Australia.

For the first three weeks, Linton concentrated on English but last Tuesday she set up two personal computers at a small centre in the estate to teach the children the basics of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel and a few other applications. She added that on an average, about 25 children from seven villages spread across the plantation come to her classes, which are held in the mornings and evenings.

Linton said she is also looking forward to working with the primary school teachers of the area to give them tips on teaching English and computer application.

“From my interaction with the children, I have come to know that they are very talented and able. They are good at reading and writing English but are weak in spoken English. I am working on it,” she added.

Linton’s project at Makaibari is self-funded. She plans to spend around 3,500 Australian dollars (around Rs 1.2 lakh) on it, including paying for her own food and accommodation as well as buying paper, pencils, pens, crayons and some English and computer books for the children.

Sewan Pradhan, a driver at Makaibari, said his son has joined Linton’s course. “He is in Class VI and he had never even seen a computer till he joined the course,” he said. “It is good that such a project is being held at the estate because we cannot afford to send our children to private computer institutes in Kurseong.”

Source: The Telegraph

Home-stay tourism project at Makaibari tea estate

Guests at home means money in the pocket that can be spent to send the children to school.

The success of the home-stay project at Makaibari Tea Estate, 3 km from here, is helping workers there earn that extra little bit that enables them to look after their children’s education. As Robin Khawas, the coordinator of the home-stay project, put it: “The tourist flow has helped residents here both in terms of economy as well as education. There have been months when we have been able to earn around Rs 6,000, which is a lot compared to garden wages. The additional income is used to send the children to school.”

Shila Tamang, a labourer in the garden who is part of the project, concurred: “We earn around Rs 2,000 from the garden, which is just enough to maintain the family. The home-stay project has helped me bear the cost of my children’s education. The highest I have earned in a single month is Rs 5,000 some time last year. Otherwise, we earn anything between Rs 1,500 and Rs 3,500 per month.”

The project started at the garden about two years ago with 15 houses spread over seven villages providing accommodation to tourists. Room tariff is as little as Rs 300 per day, including food. Of it, Rs 50 goes to the emergency fund of the joint body committee set up by the members of the project.

The committee has so far collected Rs 9,000, said Khawas, which means the total revenue has been over Rs 50,000 in two years.

So what can tourists expect when they decide to stay with a worker’s family at Makaibari? “If you get used to the common toilets and lack of running water, then it is wonderful,” said a foreign backpacker who stayed there for a while. “They serve you traditional food and even put up cultural programmes in the evenings for entertainment. And best of all, you are right in the lap of nature.”

Source: The Telegraph