How much can you save on
Darjeeling Tourism Card?
Example #1
Let's take a typical example of a family vacation... let's say a family of three (i.e. two parents with a child) buys one Darjeeling Tourism Card and plans a vacation in Darjeeling and nearby areas for a total of 5nights/6days.
Savings on hotel stay
Let's say they select a mid-range partner hotel whose published room rate is Rs. 3,500/- per night and the hotel offers 15% discount on room rate to Darjeeling Tourism Card holders (Note that in hotels, one tourism card can be used to book one room...
Read the T&Cs). So total savings on hotel = 5 nights x (15% of Rs. 3,500) =
Rs. 2,625/-
Savings on tours & activities
You will certainly like to take sightseeing tours, day trips etc. A vacation in Darjeeling area is never complete unless you undertake some of such tours. (Note that our partner operators will offer discounts to up to 2 adults and 2 children per card...
Read the T&Cs). Let's say the family spends Rs. 5,000/- in total sightseeing tours in and around Darjeeling, and the partner operator offers an average 15% discount. So the total savings on Tours = 15% of 5,000 =
Rs. 750/-
Savings on food
If the family takes at least one meal from the partner restaurants every day with average bill of Rs. 1500/- for the whole family (which can include bar expenses also), then for 5 days the food & beverages bill will be = 5 X 1500 = Rs. 7,500/- (Note that a partner restaurant will entertain 2 adults and 2 children per card...
Read the T&Cs).
With an average 10% discount from partner restaurant, the total food savings would be = 10% of 7,500 = Rs. 750/-
Savings on Shopping
Our partner shops will offer discounts to a family of up to four (
Read the T&Cs). There are plenty of fascinating stuffs to buy including famous Darjeeling tea, curios, hand crafted items including thankas (religious scrolls), woollens, pure pashmina shawls and more. And the best stores are our partners. Let's say the family makes purchases worth Rs. 3,000 from our partner shops with an average discount of 15%. So saving from shopping = 15% of Rs. 3000 =
Rs. 450/-
Savings from Transport and Transfer Services
Let's say the family will use pick up and drop services from/to NJP station or Bagdogra airport. They may additionally use transfer services to visit near by destinations as well. Let's say they spend Rs. 5,000/- on total transfer services (note that one card can be used for up to 4 in a family for transport & transfer services...
Read the T&Cs).
With average discount of 10%, the saving in transport = 10% of 5,000 = Rs. 500/-
Grand Total Savings
So the total savings (by adding up all the savings above) = Rs. 5,075/-. So the family would save about 10 times the cost of the card.
You can actually save lot more...
That was an example of a family of 3 going on a 5 nights vacation in a mid range hotel. One can make far more savings if...
(a) Number of nights stay is more.
(b) Have more meals in partnering restaurants.
(c) Category of hotel is higher (like 3, 4 or 5 star) with higher room rates. A 15% discount on a room rate of Rs. 7000/- would offer Rs. 1,050/- saving every night.
(d) Room is selected with a meal plan like MAP, AP etc, then discount automatically applies to the meals that are combined in the room tariff plan.
(e) The family size is bigger. The card covers up to 4 in a family in most cases. However for hotel booking, the persons per card is limited by the capacity of a room or suite or cottage etc as one card is applicable for one room/unit only.
(f) Repeat visits are made within the 1-year validity period of the card. You can continue to get the discounts/benefits during repeat visits within the validity period.
Example #2
Let's say you are going on a trek. A popular trek is 6 days Sandakphu/Phalut. When you go through a trek operator, they will take care of all your logistics including lodging, food, transfers, guide, porter, permits, first aid, safety etc. Otherwise you will need to arrange for all these and it's not easy to do all that on a trekking route like this.
Say an average cost of trek per person is Rs. 3200/- per day. And say two persons in a family/group are availing the Darjeeling Tourism Card (Note that in trekking, tours and adventure activities that operate on per person rate, one card can be used by a family or group of up to 4 with two adults and two minors ...
Read the T&Cs).
Say an average discount of 15% applies to the card.
So Total Saving on the trek for two (for a cost of only Rs. 475/- for the card) = 15 % of (2 persons x RS. 3200/- x 6 days) = Rs. 5760/-
For heavy treks like in Sikkim (Dzongri/Goechala) etc, the savings can be multiple times of the above as the average cost per person per day is about Rs. 5,000/- and the trek can be of 14-16 days.
