Elitist Tag or Tool for Development: An Empirical Analysis for Tourism Marketing Strategy in Sikkim

Introduction

Sikkim is a small hilly state, bounded by vast stretches of Tibetan plateau in the North, the Chumbi Valley and the kingdom Bhutan in the East, the kingdom of Nepal in the west and Darjeeling (West Bengal) in the South. Its latitude is 27⁰30^l north and the longitude is 88⁰30^l east. Sikkim is famous for scenic valleys forest, snow clad mountains, magnificent Buddhist culture and heritage and peace-loving people. Though small, the environmental, social and cultural diversities are not so. Some scholars believe that the word Sikkim involves Nepalese dialect and it refers to a ‘now place’ or the term has been derived from a Sanskrit word which means a ‘mountain crest’. The people of Sikkim have ethnic diversity. The Bhutias came from Tibet, the Lepchas were the aboriginal community and the Nepalese came from Nepal. When Sikkim was an independent state it faced many invasion by its neighboring countries and the king took the help of the British India and, later, gifted some of its region including Darjeeling to the British India. Now this 22^nd Indian State (joined Indian Union in 1975) has Over 81% of the total geographical area under the administrative managerial control of the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India. Over 45% of the total geographical area of the state is under tree cover and nearly 34% of the geographical area is set aside as protected area network in the form of national park and wildlife sanctuary. The basic statistics of flora and fauna are given here under (see Table 1).

Source: Economic Survey 2006-07, Govt. of Sikkim