Help Tourism

Dear All,

Namaskar and greetings of the New Year!

Year 2009 was indeed a very special for Help Tourism and its partners. Despite the economic down turn all over the world, the organization was able to sustain and strengthen its community tourism movements in East Himalaya where the celebration of life never ends!

Several new projects have been initiated with few more in the pipeline. Few new and exciting trips and circuits such as Butterfly tour in Northeast India, Cultural Festival tour in the Northeast India, Padmasambhava Trail in Western Manas with the heritage circuit of Gouripur and North Bengal extension, ‘Holi Water & Caves’ trail and Areylungchok Dzongri Round Trek from Tashiding, Gangyap and Labdang villages in West Sikkim have been launched. A ‘Heritage Home Stay’ project has been introduced in Ballavpur Danga, Shantiniketan. A special festival trip has been launched on the occasion of the 4^th Pangsau Pass Winter Festival – scheduled from 20^th to 22^nd January 2010 at Nampong, Eastern Arunachal Pradesh. Help Tourism is the Tourism Partner of this unique and colourful cultural extravaganza which takes place every year on the same dates. As a part of the festival, a special vintage car rally named ‘Stilwell Road-Pangsau Pass Car Rally’ with WWII vehicles and motor bikes has been organized jointly by Help Tourism and North East Motor Sports Association.

In 2009 Help Tourism was entrusted with the responsibility for drawing the National Ecotourism Policy framework for Bhutan by His Majesty’s Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Conservation Division and Ugyen Wangchuck institute for Conservation and Environment(UWICE) and 03 rural tourism project of East & Northeast India Business Plan by UNDP & GOI-DOT. The projects will continue in 2010.

‘Green Circuit’ – a unique partnership initiative of five best responsible tourism organizations from India and Nepal was launched from the International Centre for Responsible Tourism’s (ICRT) stand at the World Travel Market (WTM), London to support community-run projects through cross-cultural tours, expeditions and hands-on conservation-volunteering programmes.

The website of Travel To Care – a platform based in India that supports and promotes responsible tourism projects and initiatives in India & the rest of Asia was also launched at WTM. Help Tourism is a proud member of this platform.

As a part of our Mission 2009-10, four PEACE PARKs have been established in some of the crucially important landscapes in the region – in partnership with local communities, to spread the message of cross-border peace, cross-border friendship, cultural exchange and cooperation through tourism.

As a part of our conservation mandates, several biological and species monitoring surveys were organized by our expert resource persons in the protected areas of Tripura, Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and North Bengal. The Chilapata Toad & Frog Festival was successfully organized to raise awareness about the importance of protection of lesser-fauna and amphibian species of Chilapata Wildlife Sanctuary and surrounding villages in North Bengal.

The World Tourism Day was observed and celebrated with two major launching programmes: ‘Green Riders’ – a project conceived by a local association named Barefoot to support and empower 50 rickshaw pullers through green tourism in Puri sea beach in Orissa and ‘Kurseong Ecotourism & Heritage Park’ – a joint initiative of Himalayan Ecotourism Welfare Society, West Bengal Tourism and Darjeeling Himalayan Railway(DHR).

As advisor and partner of the initiatives, Help Tourism was present at the launching programmes marked with colourful cultural performances and workshops.

In recognition to its contribution to sustainable development through community-based tourism, Help Tourism received few prestigious national and international awards in 2009.To name a few: TTF Awards, CNBC-Awaaz Award, Wild Asia’s Responsible Tourism Award. We dedicate this to our partner communities, our tourism partners, our patrons-guests-friends-well wishers and the members of our extended family.

But then, the year did not end with all such good and happy moments only. Despite many new achievements and towering performances the country also witnessed devastating calamities, communal conflicts, rising corruption, alarming climate change, loss of biodiversity, shameless politics, dwindling wildlife, reckless consumerism, saddening violence.

The New Year calls for more responsible action from the citizens of India and the world, more responsibilities from the tourism and other industries before it gets too late!

Our mission – ‘Tourism for Peace’ thus continues in 2010!

With love, regards and appreciation,

Help Tourism Family
January 1, 2010.

Help Tourism celebrates World Tourism Day at several destinations by empowering the grassroot level stakeholders in tourism and launching several green travel products.

Puri, by the Bay of Bengal is one of the most sought after pilgrimage destination for the Hindus worldwide has gradually emerged as a leisure holiday destinations for the millions of travellers from West Bengal and other parts of India. With the change in type, the quality of facilities also changed drastically. The pilgrimage dharamshalas (free/donation accommodation for pilgrims) were replaced by hotels, the temple prashad (food offered to the Gods and then distributed to the pilgrims) was all replaced by restaurants, rickshaws were replaced by auto-rickshaws etc. The 2000 auto rickshaws put the rickshaw pullers out of work, leaving them frustrated anti-social elements and Puri a polluted town.
A group of about 50 rickshaw pullers greeted the passengers with roses in the morning at Puri Railway Station. They were led by the local Superintendent of Police, Mr.S.K.Priyadarshi and the members of Barefoot (a local association of tour operators, hoteliers and other professionals). Help Tourism, Siliguri is an advisor to this association and acts as the principle motivator towards responsible tourism.
In the morning itself at 10am, the Mayor of Puri, Mrs.Shanti Pradhan flagged off the Green Rider Rickshaws from the Lion’s Gate of the Jagannath Temple. The rickshaws passed through all the major roads and sightseeing points, stopped occasionally by the people who supported the rickshaw pullers by giving them drinking water. The rickshaw pullers rode proudly around the town with a sense of achievement.

The evening was an exclusive event in the Panthanivas beach of Puri. This event dedicated to the rickshaw pullers and their families was attended by several tourists, travel agents and hoteliers. The chief guest of the event was Mr.S.Das Verma, the local MLA from Bragmagiri, Orissa and the Guest of Honour was Dr.Peter Patel, an active Rotarian from the United Kingdom who has been organizing several health programs in Orissa. Mr.Gobind C. Bhuyan, Asst. Director, India Tourism was a special guest at the event.
The highlight of the evening was the team of Mrs.Nanda Kundu, a salsha guru from Delhi and founder of Kiran’s Dance in Rhythm, who performed several international level western and Indian folk & classical dance forms. The team consisted of both Indians and foreigners and truly lived to the theme of World Tourism Day 2009, celebrating diversity. A team from the youths of the Sevait families performed yoga  under Bharat Yoga Kendra. The Green Riders were finally recognized on stage and several facilities were announced for them.
International sand sculptor, Mr.Sudarshan Pattnaik and his team created a beautiful piece of art in sand to match the World Tourism Day theme. A film by famous news personnel, Ajoy Roy, who is also the President of ACT (Association for Conservation & Tourism) made an excellent promo -documentary on the Green Riders.
The extraordinary initiative was taken by Mr.Yugabrata Kar, founder of Heritage Tours of Puri and Barefoot, Puri. This was supported by India Tourism (Kolkata & Bhubaneswar), Orissa Tourism, Mayfair  Puri, Chariot Puri, Holiday Resort, Shakti International, State Bank of India, Lakshya, NICE, Coca cola, 1000 Sands etc.

---

Kurseong, a part of the Darjeeling Hills in the East Himalaya houses the World Heritage Site, the DHR (Darjeeling Himalayan Railway), but the sense of ownership by the local people was missing as their livelihood had no relation with the DHR. This is when the DHR Director, Kurseong SDO , Divisional Forest Officer and several other  persons from the administration and political parties decided to support a local group of youth from Kurseong and adjoining areas to start ecotourism and hence their name Himalayan Ecotourism Welfare Society.

Help Tourism, as their advisors helped the youths to constitute a management committee and framed a greater heritage area added to the DHR World Heritage Site, ‘Kurseong Ecotourism & Heritage Park’. The Tea Estates and Forests with the people in and around Kurseong were included in the map. Hotels, Tea & Forest Bungalows, Homestays and other service providers were identified and added to the initiative. Activities including nature treks, nature drives, tea treks, tea drives, DHR heritage rides, cultural shows, handicrafts & handlooms and volunteering with schools, scouts, health & Agro based NGOs, salamander conservation programs etc were included.
The official launching was done on the World Tourism Day, 2009 in the presence of several people and media from the region. Chief Guest, Mr.Gopal Lama, Director, West Bengal Tourism and Guest of Honour,  Mr.Subrata Nath, Director, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway declared the project launching of ‘Kurseong Ecotourism & Heritage Park’. They both said that this initiative will bring back the old glory of Kurseong. Mr.Gopal Lama said that this will help in generating self employment in hundreds of families in this area and will support a better civil society. Mr.Subrata Nath said that they will provide all support for the successful implementation of this project, also a tourist information centre was inaugurated in the Kurseong Railway Station on this date to be managed by the Himalayan Ecotourism Welfare Society. Mr.Paras Dahal, the East Himalaya co-ordinator for Help Tourism said that the national & international bodies like DHR-India Support Group & DHR Society will certainly provide support to the initiative by participating in the several ecotourism programs that have been launched and will help in promoting the same.

Following an old tradition, our friend Ajoy Roy again visited Sunderbans to celebrate the pre-Puja Season Community Feast.

We love to share with you some impressions:

more about the community feasts in Sunderbans

The Sunderbans are quiet, remote, dark – boring for many, a lifetime experience for others. Here’s what Elizabeth from the US experienced:

The night before we left though, is seared into my brain. Dev (our guide) took us to the local village ceremony. Since noise travels for miles there, each morning we heard music at about 5 AM …… We inquired where the music was coming from …… He told us that it was a local village ceremony that was going on for a few days. On the last night, he asked if we wanted to go to the ceremony. It was a 45 minute walk from the camp to the village. A little dog ( they are all over the place) followed us the entire way, which was a very brave thing to do since almost everyone has a dog near their little thatch hut and the dogs serve as “alarm systems” challenging anyone or any dog that passes by the outside. Thank the Lord it was a semi full moon, and our guide had a “torch” which was really a big flashlight”

It was surreal. Mist coming off the water, the tiny fishing boats anchored in the water right off the path, thick trees coming out of the water, thatched huts all around. What I could conjure up was Japan circa 1700. And, the anticipation that a tiger could emerge at any moment . Thinking back on it, it was a “bit” life threatening but I NEVER think that anything BAD can happen – and figuring I was with my guide – what could happen? As it happened, we were completely safe …. And the visual of that night it right up there with the great moments of life … the Pyramids ( I was in the Mena House) , the Great Wall of China ( I trekked the 6 mile section of it), the Peruvian Amazon ( spent 4 nights in the THICK OF IT) , the Taj Mahal, Varanassi ( I can go on but you get the picture) . It was an OH MY GOD……

Once we got to the village – the people were incredulous. We were a hit!! We were in the middle of nowhere at a local festival -[...]