For example, an elected municipal authority, for various local and other compulsions, may not be able to enforce certain urgently needed restrictions. For ecologically fragile and sensitive areas, a separate set of laws may be framed to protect them from further damage. Such a law may prescribe installation of proper sewerage and water supply system before a building is allowed to be built. For a place like Darjeeling, there should be regulations regarding room occupancy pattern in hotels specifying the maximum number of people allowed, so that water supply and sewerage system are not put to undue stress.

One of the measures that is urgently needed is development of other tourist destinations in and around Darjeeling so that the pressure on it is relieved. The Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) is thinking in terms of a satellite township at Ghoom Bhanjang. There is greater emphasis on ecotourism now. DGHC is making efforts to popularise adventure tourism. Tented accommodation is planned at carefully chosen sites with good vistas and sylvan surroundings. Such places would attract the young, the adventurous and those who are looking for something different from concrete jungles they are trying to escape by coming to the hills.

There is no denying that tourists do influence the host population's culture. The places in the mountains have remained relatively isolated from the mainstream and, therefore, the value system and traditions of mountain people are vulnerable. The interface with tourists sometimes result in insidious values creeping into a community's culture. The remote desert town of Jaisalmer in western Rajasthan suddenly became the ultimate tourist destination in India. Its tradition bound society got a severe culture shock from the permissive way of life of foreign tourists. But it need not always be so if proper care is taken in advance to prepare the host population to benefit from the interaction with tourists with diverse cultural backgrounds. The growth of tourism has always led to increased economic activity, improved quality of life of the host people and a better awareness of the outside world that has helped to put traditional values in a new perspective.

Cultural tourism is one of the instruments to fight tourism's adverse impacts. DGHC is developing tourist packages involving visits to monasteries, villages, interaction with rural folk and cultural programmes to familiarise tourists with the rich cultural heritage of Darjeeling hills.