Bihar is emerging as the new catchment area for tourism in Darjeeling.

In recent times, the number of Biharis flocking to Darjeeling — many of them prefer to drive up by their personal vehicles — has been on the rise.

“There is no doubt that the number of people from Bihar visiting Darjeeling has increased since May. However, in the past three months, the flow was even higher,” said Pradip Lama, the general secretary of the Darjeeling Association of Travel Agents (DATA).

Multiple sources attribute the rise in the footfall of visitors from Bihar to Darjeeling to four major reasons — better road conditions in Bihar, the ban on liquor in the state, change in lifestyle and the emergence of Siliguri as a “convenient city” for people of eastern Bihar.

Rajesh Rajak, the general manager of Pinetree Spa and Resorts, Darjeeling, who frequently travels to Patna, said the road conditions had improved over the years in the state.

“Earlier, it used to take around 12-14 hours to drive to Patna. Now, we can cover the distance between eight to nine hours. Also, the new generation of Biharis in general is travelling a lot more than the earlier generations,” said Rajak.

Better road conditions mean people prefer to travel in their personal vehicles, too.

“They even drive up to Darjeeling, probably for a new experience. It is a common sight to see Bihar and Jharkhand registration numbers driving uphill,” said Lama.

Hoteliers said Bihar and Jharkhand were replacing people from Maharashtra and Gujarat in terms of tourist volumes in the Darjeeling hills after Bengalis.

Tourism stakeholders said the prohibition was another major reason behind the flourishing weekend tourism in not only Darjeeling but also in Siliguri.

The Nitish Kumar government had imposed the prohibition in 2016.

“Slowly, people started to travel to Siliguri from Bihar with friends during weekends.

Following their frequent trips to Siliguri, they started discovering the Darjeeling hills,” said Rajak.

Siliguri is a mere one-and-a-half-hour drive from the Bihar border.

Builders in Siliguri said the number of Bihar residents investing in Siliguri had also increased of late, which contributed to the spike in the tourist footfall in the hills.

“The liquor ban, peace in Siliguri and the ever-increasing infrastructure of Siliguri have meant that a lot of people from eastern Bihar are buying their second home here,” said Naresh Agarwal, the president, of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India’s north Bengal zone.

The house buyers mostly belong to eastern districts like Kishanganj, Arari and Purnia.

“People are buying flats for children’s education, too. Many residents of Bihar prefer to enrol their students at Siliguri schools. The town has become a convenient place to the extent that even parties and weddings are now being held in Siliguri, which is just one or two hour’s drive away,” said Agarwal.