Sikkim to host tourist festival in May

The state tourism dept is sponsoring a 3-day extravaganza at Pelling in the West district.

Spurred by the success of the recently concluded cultural festival at Ravangla in the South district which drew large crowds, the state tourism department is sponsoring a similar three-day extravaganza at Pelling in the West district beginning on May 8.

HT Image

"To be organised by the district administration centre (west) and supported by Pelling tourism development association, the festival will feature cultural events, traditional food plazas, flower corners, exhibition-cum-sale of handicrafts, traditional music shows, photo exhibition, mountain biking and white water rafting, tourism department sources informed here today.

Such festival, which had earlier been a monopoly of Gangtok, are being organised of late in different parts of the state.

"The idea is to decongest the state capital and familiarise the visiting tourists with the lesser known places", executive director of the state tourism department L K Dong told PTI.

Pointing out that these festivals had contributed to the rise of tourist traffic in the state this year, Dong said in March alone about 2,280 foreign tourists from around 30 countries and 18,584 domestic tourists visited Sikkim.

He said considering the rate at which tourists continue to pour into the state April was bound to outperform March in terms of tourist arrivals.