Sustainability & Tourist-crowding Trade-off at Wildlife Based Tourist Spots in Dooars Region of North Bengal: A Study on Ecotourism Carrying Capacity of Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary in Dooars, Jalpaiguri (W.B)

ABSTRACT Having realized the proliferated growth of ecotourism, forest based wildlife tourism in sub-himalayan Dooars belt of West Bengal has opened up a new milestone for socio-economic development of this economically distressed region. Such protected areas are capable enough to generate more revenue in terms of tourism, biodiversity conservation, improvement of climate, purification of water and air, storage and supply of fresh water and flood control but without any physical exploitation. This article highlights existing scenario of wildlife tourism in the Dooars area for promoting it as one of the hottest wildlife tourist destinations of India. This article attempts to ventilate the glaring impacts of tourist congestion on the carrying capacities of the various forest tourist sites with reference to Chapramari Wildlife sanctuary of Dooars in Jalpaiguri district. For assessing trade-off between carrying capacity on both ecological & effective dimensions and ecotourism prospect, visitors were interviewed with semi structured questionnaire. Finally the paper concludes by showcasing the maintenance of sustainable carrying capacities to eliminate ecological imbalances which would otherwise hinder the growth of wildlife tourism.