Hotel owners and tourism stakeholders in north Bengal, already bleeding from losses, are upset over a recent incident in Darjeeling in which some local youths asked a group of Calcutta tourists to leave on the fear that Covid-19 would spread.

A representative of Darjeeling Hotel Owners’ Association, said they need to communicate with local residents.

“It was an undesirable incident. We want tourists to visit Darjeeling. But at the same time, we cannot undermine the concerns of local residents. Now that coronavirus cases are on the rise across the country, we cannot say who is right or who is wrong. We have to build confidence among people here so that such incidents do not recur,” he said.

Some of the hoteliers in the hills appealed for restraint and understanding.

“We need to build confidence among local people in the hills and in the Dooars. Else, the tourism industry can’t turn around,” said a hotelier.

On Thursday evening, Debasish Roy Chowdhury, a businessman who lives in Jodhpur Park, Calcutta, his two brothers, and the wife and two children of one of the brothers — reached Darjeeling in their own SUV. Roy Chowdhury said some local youths asked them where they were from while they were parking the car. After the family checked into a hotel in Chowrasta, another group of local youths reached their hotel with similar queries. “We told them that we are here for two nights,” Roy Chowdhury said. On Friday morning, a group of around 10 youths reached the hotel again, he said. “They asked us why we were in Darjeeling during the pandemic. We told them state and central governments allowed hotels to open and intra- and inter-state mobility. They asked us to leave in 30 minutes,” said Roy Chowdhury.

An employee at the hotel confirmed that some people had asked the tourists to leave.

State tourism minister Gautam Deb said the incident “should not have happened”. “I will speak to the district magistrate, the GTA authorities and others,” said the minister.