MKT01906 Case Study: Darjeeling International Tourism Analysis

This case study examines the international tourism system in Darjeeling, India. It begins with an introduction to Darjeeling, highlighting its appeal as a tourist destination in the Himalayan foothills, followed by an overview of its historical development, tracing its origins and transformation into a health resort under British colonial rule. The analysis includes international tourism visitation statistics, showcasing the number of foreign tourists and their preferences. The study then explores the destination's attractiveness, linking it to theories of tourism systems and motivation. It further analyzes the impacts of tourism on the host community, both positive (economic opportunities) and negative (environmental and social pressures). The case study identifies key issues currently affecting Darjeeling, such as safety concerns and cleanliness problems, and discusses tourism policy issues, including the promotion of sustainable tourism. The study concludes by emphasizing the need for addressing these issues to ensure the continued growth and development of tourism in Darjeeling. The assignment draws on academic sources to support the analysis.

Running Head: Marketing
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Darjeeling
International tourism system
10/2/2019

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Overview of the historical development..........................................................................................2
International tourism visitation........................................................................................................3
Destination attractiveness................................................................................................................3
Impacts from tourism activity on the host community....................................................................4
Issues which are currently occurring at the destination...................................................................5
Tourism policy issue for the destination..........................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Darjeeling is situated in the state of the West Bengal of India. It is the famous destination place
for the tourist which is in the Himalayan foothills. This place is full of peace and greenery
(Batabyal and Mukherjee, 2016). If anyone who loves the beauty of nature and indulge in more
flora and fauna then this place is perfect for those visitors. In this report the destination which
attracts the tourists in Darjeeling will be explained and the historical development of tourism.
The issues at the destination place will also be explained and tourism policy will be elaborated.
Overview of the historical development
Darjeeling has come from the Tibetan word which indicates the land of the thunderbolt.
Darjeeling was founded in 1815 which is located in the lesser Himalayas. The headquartered
Darjeeling is the Darjeeling District which is a brief part of Nepal and formed part of the Sikkim
(Sumantra and Raghunath, 2016). Due to the East India Company and due to the result in the
British colonial settlement in India the development of the Darjeeling took place. The place has
been converted into the health resort which was realized by the British.
Earlier in the year of 1700s, the district was taken over by the Bhutanese as Darjeeling is the part
of the Sikkim and administration of the Sikkim was taken by kind of Sikkim. Later on in the year
1780, the skim was captured by the Gorkhas which was invaded from Nepal. In the next 30 years
the river banks and the Terai area are captured by the Gorkhas and steeped into the toes of the
British East Company (Carneiro and Eusébio, 2015). This turn has into the war between the
Anglo Nepalese war and British India which was won by the British India Company.
When Nepal lost the war, the king of Nepal was forced by the British to sign the Treaty of
Seagull in which Nepal has to concede their territory to the British on the 2 December 1815 in
which Darjeeling and Sikkim are also included. In that treaty the Gorkhas are allowed to recruit
for the military services (Rai, 2015).
Later on in the year 1817, the British has returned the whole Sikkim including the Darjeeling to
the kind of the Sikkim (Chogyal). This deal was signed in the Treaty of Titalia in which the king

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of the Sikkim has to arbitrate the area to the British government for all the foreign disputes and
incursions.
After 10 years, in the year 1827, the dispute again arisen due to the terms of the treaty between
the Sikkim and Nepal (Besky, 2014). The dispute was being settled between the two captains
Lloyd and Mr. Grant. In the year 1835 Darjeeling was gifted to the East India Company which
was signed by the king in the deed and in return he will get the allowance Rupees 6000 per year
which was the huge money.
International tourism visitation
There are many foreign tourists who come to India just to visit Darjeeling for its famous places.
As per the statistics data of the year 2015, there are around 50000 foreign tourists who have
come to visit Darjeeling. Darjeeling is known as the Queen of the Hills which is the third most
travel destination for the tourist as per the statistics. In the year 2015, the survey has been made
for the Tourist state of the West Bengal. In that survey it was found that major tourist from
foreign market comes in the peak months which are January, February, and December. The
number of leisure overnight tourists is very higher than the number of non-leisure tourists as it
was 42195614. The number of leisure tourists from foreign tourists was 6926007 in the year
2015 (Tourism Survey Report, 2015). It was also found in the survey that the foreign tourist
generally takes accommodation from the hotel only.
The number of male visitors is higher as majorly 79% of foreign overnight visitors are from the
age of 25-44 years. The number of female majorities is 72.2%. The women who come to visit
Darjeeling from foreign visitors are generally from the age of 25-34 years (Rai, 2015). From the
tourist arrival the state of West Bengal earns a good GDP growth. In the year 2014, as per the
statistics, the number of FTAs was 10.2% and the registered number of the FTAs was 7.68
million, in the year 2015. The overnight foreign tourist was 1416794 and same-day visitors were
5855 so the total international tourist was 1422649 (Tourism Survey Report, 2015).
Destination attractiveness
The major attractive destination for domestic and foreign tourist was Kalimpong, tiger hill, rock
garden, Mirik, Himalaya Zoological Park, Siliguri, etc. (Bhutia, 2015). Darjeeling is famous for

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the viewpoints as it situated at the hill station. It is the third highest mountain in the world so
people come to visit the view of the Kanchenjunga. It is an ugly hill resort and has good
sightseeing. It is the place worth to visit especially the Tiger hill which is famous for its sunrise.
From the British rule only this hill station was famous.
The best places to visit for the tourist in the Darjeeling were Ghoom Monastery, Himalayan
Mountaineering Institute, Rock Garden, Isngalila National Park, Nightingale Park, etc.
Darjeeling is also the famous destination as it has a good status for the tourist in the state of the
West Bengal (Khokhobaia, 2015).
As per the theory of Fuzzy, the tourism place develops when there are several attraction points.
The preferences of the tourist on the destination places are put to the priority so that the
customers feel satisfied and they get motivated to visit such places furthermore. This theory has a
major concern towards the recreation of the destination places so that economic development can
be done in a rapid manner (Dredge and Jamal, 2015). The GDP of every state is increasing due to
the increasing number of tourists. This theory of fuzzy model is similar to the model of human
beings. So this theory helps in analyzing the preferences of the tourist so that the competition
level can be increased and the number of satisfied travelers can be enhanced.
Impacts from tourism activity on the host community
There is a positive impact of tourism on the host community as there are several benefits created
for the host community. The opportunities for the local business increase, due to the increasing
number of visitors, trade also enhanced. The host community sells the product to the tourist
which affects the lives of everyone. The host community is the local regional area where the
refugee lives (Dredge and Jamal, 2015). Darjeeling is situated at the borders of Nepal and
Bhutan so there are many host community which has a great impact on tourism. The place of
driveling is safe for the tourist as there are many refugees to protect them.
Tourism is not integrated with the hospitality and the transportation sector but it is also
integrated with the functional unit of the economy. The tourist gets affected by the customs and
the traditions of the host community. The host community enhances and their development has
been seen by interacting with the diversified people and their lifestyle practices. Sustainable

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tourism is developed which helps in improving the local life of the people and lead to better
facilities and infrastructure (Khokhobaia, 2015).
Tourism activities also help in improving the leisure facilities and sports and also give rebirth to
many crafts, architectural and ancestral things. The employment is increasing for the host
community due to the increasing tourism. The income level of the person is increasing which so
showing that there is a positive impact (Ahamed, 2017).
There is some negative impact also have been seen in Darjeeling due to the increasing
competition such as stress has been put on the use of the local land. The population has been
increasing which is spoiling the natural beauty of the Himalayas. The soil erosion is also
increasing and loss has been seen in the natural habitat. As there are many national parks and
sanctuary so due to the increasing tourism the pressure has been put on the endangered species
(Bhattacharya, et al., 2015). Due to the increasing tourism the host community gets affected as
their environmental resources are getting destroyed. Tourism is dependent on the host
community for their needs and desires.
Issues which are currently occurring at the destination
There are two major issues that have been seen in Darjeeling which made this popular tourist
spot decline. The one major issue is related to the safety of travelers. Darjeeling to travel at night
is very risky so youth does not prefer to visit such places. The second major issue is with the
cleanliness as traveling around Darjeeling has to face the issues related to the water supply,
lodging provisions, etc. (Baker, 2014). These two are the major issues which are currently
occurring at the Darjeeling which is creating the major problem for the tourist of these places.
Traveling at nights in Darjeeling is wandered as it is not that much safe which the major issue is.
There are many political issues that cause the major problem of safety in this area. Darjeeling is
situated at the borders of Nepal and Bhutan so there are many wars happens which creates the
issues for the travelers to roam at such places (Bimonte and Punzo, 2016). Infect the sightseeing
for the travelers are very famous but if they don’t travel with the proper way then it can also
create issue, safety should be in the hand of the person only while traveling so if someone wants
to make some other adventures at this Himalayan areas then it creates the major problem of risk.

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Infect the resident over there are not so much aware of the Hindi and English so they speak the
spoke Nepali and Bengali language which is not understandable by the travelers. Travelers do
not understand what the local people over there trying to say which creates the major issue while
traveling.
The other major issue which has been seen was in the cleanliness in Darjeeling is not effective
(Airey, 2015). The hills of Darjeeling are getting under the attack and they are also in the spiral
of the violence. The hotels over there are also not clean so people over there were not satisfied
with the infrastructure facility. The garbage over there is spread over the hilly areas which were
destroying the beauty of nature. People visit Darjeeling so that they can feel some freshness and
can get relaxed over there but due to the cleanliness problem the tourist over there are not
satisfied. The infrastructure facilities are not satisfied so the youth does not even prefer to travel
these areas. These issues not only affecting tourism in the state but also affect the GDP of the
country. As there are many foreign tourists who come to visit such places so theses issues have
tie b removed so that more growth and economic development can be seen. When these issues
will resolve or removed, then higher GDP rate and the number of tourism in the country will
enhance (And, 2015).
Tourism policy issue for the destination
Tourism policy 2020 is raising the concern related to the issues at the destination places and the
also promote sustainable tourism. This policy focuses on the long term tourism which gives great
importance to the economies (Garcia, et al., 2015). Any issues related to the destination a place
that was affecting tourism in a negative way was resolved by this policy. Globalization has
changed the emerging markets so this policy is basically concerned with the social and the other
issues and also puts the focus on the communication and the technologies. This policy enhances
the infrastructure ta the tourism place which will help to manage the tourism flows and the
number of tourists will increases. This policy of the tourism issue is basically to invest in the
mobility system of tourism so that growth and economic development can also be enhanced.
This policy also helps in restoring the cultural and natural heritage by investing the public budget
in tourism-related activities so that coastal area can also be enhanced. The tourism and the local
people get reinforced with the problem sand some issues related to the destination. There are

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many tourists who suffer while traveling to places so this policy will help in enhancing the
tourism market (Das, 2014).
The aim of this policy is to maintain sustainable tourism where the needs and the wants of the
future generation will also be concerned. This policy protects the tourism consumer from any
tourism-related issue such as safety of the tourist, cleanliness of the tourist, proper infrastructure,
etc. This policy also promotes the training programs which take action to maintain the quality
standards and the better service quality at the destination places (Garcia, et al., 2015). The
regulations frameworks have also improved through this policy which maintains the safety of
tourism and also give them the guidelines to manage and operate the long term objectives of the
tourism.
The issues related to tourism at the destination places are achieved through the tourism policy of
2020 which helps in driving and taking the decision for the betterment of the destination places
(Das, 2014). The policy also helps in maximizing the benefits to the society and the environment
and help in conserving the fragile cultures of the destinations. This policy has a positive impact
on the environment which helps in making the place better by exchanging the cultures and
traditions. The economic benefits help in taking the growth to the economy.
Conclusion
From the above case study of the destination Darjeeling, it is found that it is one of the famous
destination places for the domestic as well as foreign tourist. This place is concerned with the
hilly station and there is much sightseeing which attracts the tourist. There are many foreign
tourists also which travel the Darjeeling as it has highest peaks and mountains. There are certain
issues while traveling to these places which is related to the safety and cleanliness which has
clearly stated in this report. The report has also put the major focus on the impact of tourism on
the host community which has both positive and negative aspects. In this report the policy of
tourism 2020 has explained which works on sustainability and the issues related to tourism.

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References
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