The Kalimpong district administration, along with police, are conducting awareness camps among homestay owners to ensure a hassle-free travel experience for tourists visiting different locations of the hill district.

“We are laying emphasis on three primary steps — installing CCTV cameras on the premises of all homestays, preventing minors from checking in on their own into these accommodations, and completing online registration before boarding,” said T.T. Bhutia, the officer-in-charge of Pedong police station.

Recently, Bhutia, along with his colleagues, held a similar awareness camp at Sillery Gaon, a hilly hamlet that has gained popularity among tourists visiting this region. Known for its idyllic landscape with Mt Kanchenjungha in the background, the village has a number of homestays.

Bhutia has said there are six panchayats under the jurisdiction of his police station. Many of these panchayats have offbeat travel destinations.

Things were different two decades ago. Seventeen years ago, Dilip Tamang started his homestay with a few fellow residents of Sillery Gaon.

“For three years, we didn’t get any tourists. Slowly, it started picking up,” said Tamang.

This year, the booking for the upcoming Durga Puja is almost complete, he said. As of now, there are 38 homestays in the village.

Sources in the administration said such an awareness campaign was necessary to ensure that precautionary measures were in place at travel destinations of the district.

Most of the homestay owners at the village have welcomed the guidelines set by the administration and are eager to put those before “profit”.

“Had there not been tourism here, we would still have to either plant cinchona trees or ferry tourists all across the popular travel destinations in Darjeeling or Gangtok,” said Ganesh Thapa, who runs a tea-and-snacks stall at Sillery Gaon.

A government aid of Rs 1.5 lakh in three instalments to each homestay also helped the hosts have the modern infrastructure in place. Gradually, some quality parameters were also put in place.

“Tourism has gone through a sea change in many Kalimpong hamlets. Years ago, there was not even electricity. Now, you have non-stop wi-fi connections,” said Suman Chakraborty, a Calcuttan, who frequents the hills.

A senior official of the state tourism department posted in north Bengal said his department was in constant touch with the homestay owners in the region to ensure that tourists checking in to their accommodations were provided with quality service.