Seasonality of tourism: a major constraint for the growth of tourism in the regional economy of Sikkim state, India

Tourism has been often treated as a macro-level approach in several subject viz., economics, management, sociology and ecology, and it has different characteristics. Under different principle characteristics of tourism, the emphasis in the present study has been placed primarily on the seasonal characteristics of tourism and its impact on Sikkim’s economy. This study is a pioneer attempt to find out the factors responsible for tourism seasonality through micro level observation, logical reasoning, and empirical study and to suggest some effective measures to mitigate the problem. Further, the study is based on the secondary data collected over a period of seven years from 2005 to 2011. Seasonal Index Method has been employed in the present study. Though tourism is one of the important industries, seasonality of tourism is a major setback in Sikkim state. Numerous factors that cause seasonality variation have been found in Sikkim. In extreme seasons, tourists are affected by bad weather, heavy rainfall, landslides etc. Findings highlight the entire natural and institutional reasons for tourism seasonality in Sikkim state. This will enable policy makers and tourism stakeholders to find out various alternatives to solve seasonality impediments and promote tourism in the state.