Stakeholders of tourism industry in north Bengal have urged political parties to ensure that the Assembly elections are held peacefully, pointing out that any incident of violence in the poll season might deter tourists from visiting the region over the next few weeks.

In Bengal, elections will be held in eight phases from — March 27 to April 29 — followed by counting and declaration of results on May 2. In north Bengal districts, polling will start from April 10 and be held in various constituencies of the region till April 29, that is, the last phase.

Stakeholders have said that the tourism industry had taken a beating during the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown in 2020.

“It is only during past three months that tourists have started moving into the region," said Raj Basu, a veteran in tourism industry of the region. “We are expecting a good summer this year (related to tourist inflow). Any incident of violence during elections can have a negative impact on the tourism sector and people may cancel their trips. That is why we would like to urge political parties to see to it that elections are held peacefully. The administration also has a role to play here,” Basu added.

In earlier elections, north Bengal has witnessed inter-party clashes, attacks on political workers and leaders of various parties in a number of districts. Also, during the past few weeks, a number of sporadic incidents of violence have been reported in the region.

Jayanta Majumdar, a transporter in Siliguri, said such incidents leave tourists apprehensive and they want to avoid visiting places where elections are due.

“We don’t want any unwanted tension to prevail in the region because of the elections. Also, another problem that the industry might face is the paucity of vehicles during the next few weeks as hundreds of vehicles which normally ferry tourists are now being requisitioned for elections. We are keeping fingers crossed and hope the tourism industry does not suffer in the coming weeks of polls,” said Majumdar.