Tea, Tourism and Torture; Analysing the Structural Strains of the Tourism Industry in the Darjeeling Hills

Abstract

The Tea and Tourism industry of the Darjeeling hills in West Bengal has raked in significant fame, profits and attraction towards the State. However, the system that maintains these institutions are inherently outdated, riddled with colonial tendencies and inequality. Whether it is the lack of proper wages to Tea Garden workers or a lack of proper land administration, the system is clearly collapsing. Additionally, the lack of regional autonomy of the people of Darjeeling also adds to this problem, highlighting the importance of recognising identities within smaller regional economies. Along with this, faulty administration and haphazard constructions have also led to collapse on multiple fronts including economics, geographic and ecological. Hence, this paper will seek to critically examine the tourism industry and its cascading effects on smaller towns, with Darjeeling as the primary case of analysis, and highlight how a lack of autonomy and mismanagement can lead to collapse on multiple levels through the use of primary and secondary research.