Last few weeks might just take away the sunshine off Darjeeling tourism this year. Aila has more or less swept the profit that the tourism industry was making in the wake of a good tourist flow, which was driven by central government employees using their leave travel concession (LTC) for air travel to the north-east. Darjeeling was recuperating from the blow the Gorkhaland agitations had dealt to its tourism industry, when Aila struck ? just when the peak season was taking off. The hills seem to be under a bad omen, says Anil Punjabi, Acting Chairman (eastern India) of the Travel Agents Federation of India.

The tourism industry in Darjeeling generates more than Rs 1,000 crore in revenue, which came down by 50% due to the agitations.

Although the state government did nothing to help Darjeeling tourism recover from the Gorkhaland agitations, the Centre introduced the leave travel concession for its employees in May 2008 for air travel to the northeast. This changed the situation dramatically.

Central government employees from Gujarat and south India flooded the hill station. Of the tourists in Darjeeling, 60% were Gujaratis, 20-30% south Indians and only 10-15% Bengalis. Tip Top Gujarati Hotel?s Jigar Doshi says, ?Car rentals went up to Rs 2,000 from Rs 700 and there were hardly any cars available. Even rooms costing Rs 500 were booked for as much as Rs 1,000.? He made around Rs 5 lakh last year, but this year he had already touched Rs 7 lakh. So, there was a 30-40% surge in revenue for the hotels. STIC Travels sold 10% more packages in May this year.

According to Doshi, the losses of last year and the December-March period would have been more than made up during this peak season. But if things lose momentum in June because of Aila and an early monsoon, profits will get eroded.

Elgin Hotels & Resorts witnessed a 40% rise in occupancy over last year. However, in the aftermath of the cyclone, bookings stalled for three days and many were also cancelled.

The tourist flow from Gujarat and the south got affected, says Makemytrip General Manager, Shubhro Mukherjee, as train and flight availability was very low and the only option left was the road.

December-March 2008-09 witnessed a drop in occupancy to 20-25% from the previous year?s 45%, with revenue down by 40%, according to West Bengal Tourism Development Corp Managing Director TVN Rao. Business was down since June 2008, but things picked up a great deal from May, says Rao. The cyclone no doubt has affected tourist flow, but it has definitely not stopped people from going to Darjeeling.

Approximately 3,00,000 tourists visit Darjeeling each year, according to Punjabi. ?Landslides causing such destruction have been seen for the first time here,? says Doshi. For three days, tourists were held up in their rooms because of incessant rains. Out-of-Bengal tourists, like the ones from Gujarat, missed their connecting flights.

Tourists from Kolkata have cancelled their trips but the ones from outside the state who have already made bookings, especially air, are going ahead with their vacation.

Debjit Dutta, Chief Executive of Impression Tourism Services, says he has been processing a number of cancellations after the cyclone hit as tourists are sceptical about their safety. ?I have been getting many calls about the state of the hills, and we have to show them the true picture since bad road connectivity is going to affect the sight-seeing and itinerary plans of our customers.? Roads were closed for 48-50 hours and bad weather always hampers the movements of the tourists, he adds.

Normally the downturn starts from June end, but early monsoon and the cyclone have hastened the process this time.

Dutta sounds a word of caution on the boost provided by the LTC crowd. LTC tourists will exert pressure on the infrastructure, he says. And once LTC for the north-east is withdrawn, the industry will suffer from both slack and the side effects, the way it happened in the Andaman once LTC was withdrawn for the islands.