Paragliding in Darjeeling attracts tourists

Darjeeling, Dec 3 (ANI): The tourism department of West Bengal, introduced paragliding in Darjeeling, as part of its initiative to provide impetus to tourism and attract local as well as foreign tourists in the state.

Trainers said they started paragliding last year, and practiced for one whole year so that they could determine the direction of the wind and ensure that all possible steps are taken to prevent any mishap from taking place.

"This is the third state where paragliding has been started at a commercial level. The other two places are Sikkim and Himachal and now it has been started in Darjeeling. We have started flying last year but for one year, our trainers were flying for maintaining safety precautions and checking the wind conditions. Like if the thermal wind is not proper, then we change the direction of the glider. For one year, we kept checking the wind conditions and now we have started paragliding for tourists," said Sangey Sherpa, a trainer of paragliding.

Sherpa said that in order to paraglide for fifteen minutes, the Indian tourists would have to pay rupees 2,500 and foreign tourists would have to pay rupees 3,000.

Paragliding would give the tourists a great opportunity to see breathtaking aerial view of the city and surrounding mountains.

People associated with the tourism industry said government should promote more such activities, as it would provide boost to the industry.

"Till now we just had river rafting as adventure tourism in Darjeeling but now paragliding has been started in addition to it. This is a good step and if the government makes more efforts, the tourism industry will boom. The full range of mountains can be seen during paragliding, such a view cannot be seen anywhere in the world and the view of sunrise that can be seen in the tiger hills is world famous. So, tourism must boom in Darjeeling and influx of tourists must rise," said Pradip Lama, a tour operator.

Meanwhile, tourists enjoying paragliding said that they got to see the spectacular view of the Mount Everest, Kanchenjunga peak and the widespread tea gardens on the hills. (ANI)