Officials of Sikkim’s commerce and industries department held discussions with tourism companies based in the United Arab Emirates during the ongoing World Expo in Dubai on Wednesday in an effort to woo tourists from the Arab country and its neighbours to the Himalayan state.

In a press release issued from Dubai, M. Ravikumar, the director of micro, small and medium enterprises development, said the tour operators in Dubai evinced keen interest in bringing UAE tourists to Sikkim and also invited Sikkimese people to visit the UAE.

“The companies in the UAE are interested to have a tie-up with tourist operators in Sikkim for tourism promotion,” he said.

The release said the commerce and industries department, whose commissioner-cum-secretary H. K. Sharma had headed the delegation to the UAE, gave an assurance to arrange for bilateral meetings between the tour operators of both sides in coordination with Sikkim’s tourism department.

“Interested tour operators of Sikkim can contact Tourism & Civil Aviation Department and Commerce & Industries Department, Government of Sikkim for expanding their business profile to UAE and other Middle East Countries. All possible support would be extended by both the departments,” said the release.

Ravikumar said a presentation was made on investment opportunities in Sikkim, especially in adventure tourism and in setting up of tourism infrastructure like cable ropeways and amusement parks for companies interested to do business in the state.

Sikkim had attracted a whopping 1,33,388 foreigners in 2019, a year before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the industry hard. In the two years since, the footfall has come down to a trickle.

The surge in the arrival of tourists was led by visitors from Bangladesh after the government had lifted the restrictions imposed on them to visit Sikkim the same year. Earlier, Bangadeshis and citizens of some other countries had to seek special permission from New Delhi to visit the state.

Navin Thapa, the managing director of Muscatel Hotels and Resorts who runs hotels both in Sikkim and Darjeeling, welcomed the initiative of the Sikkim government to reach out to international markets to promote tourism. “There is a lot of interest for Sikkim globally. Initiatives such as this will help tap these markets,” he said.