Armed with two Tata Qualises and camping equipment including portable tents, this nine-member team comprising 20-something youths from Sikkim Tourism Cooperative Ltd, a Sikkim-based organisation, is on a cross-country expedition to undertake a ‘national-level campaign for promotion of tourism in Sikkim.’ The team was in Mumbai for five days after having covered West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Goa.

The expedition was flagged off on January 14 by Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling from Jorethang, south Sikkim. Kishore Khadka, president, Sikkim Tourism Cooperative Ltd, explained, “When we interact with people we find that there are several misconceptions about the state. We want to eradicate all that and motivate people to come and visit us.” He also said that they were content with the efforts the Sikkim government was taking to promote the state. “We chose this adventurous way of promotion because this way we are able to penetrate the towns, villages and cities and have one to one interaction with the locals.”

Home to the third-highest mountain in the world, Kanchenjunga, Sikkim has a wide array of places of tourist interest to choose from. As Praneet Pradhan, vice president of the cooperative, points out, “In the west, you could try rafting, in the north there is trekking, and there are monasteries all over the state, or you could simply enjoy breathtaking scenic landscapes by organizing sightseeing tours.”

That Sikkim is dangerous because of insurgency activities, that it is inaccessible and worst of all, that it does not belong to India but Bhutan or Nepal, are the most common and disturbing misconceptions that they have come across.

In Mumbai, they visited the Essel World, Juhu beach, In Orbit and Raghuleela malls, the Gateway of India among other places where they conducted road shows. They also distributed questionnaires to find out preferences of the local people with regards to tourism. “We like the people of Mumbai as they are friendly and cooperative. We think they are more knowledgeable about Sikkim. Some have even visited the state,” said Rikesh Pradhan, the manager of the society.

The team travels during the day and rests in hotels or lodges in nights. “Everywhere we go, we are encouraged and cheered on by the local people. They are inquisitive to know more about Sikkim and the Sikkimese, the accommodation facilities, the costs involved etc. We are more than happy to answer all their queries and we also give out pamphlets and booklets to them that contain information on the state.”

The team will leave for Daman Diu on Tuesday morning.