Reviving Intangible Cultural Heritage through Sustainable Tourism: The Case of the Kholey Dai Festival

The Kholey Dai Festival, celebrated annually in Parengtar village, Kalimpong district, West Bengal, India, demonstrates how community-driven cultural initiatives can align with sustainable tourism principles while preserving intangible cultural heritage. This study critically examines the festival’s contributions to cultural preservation, community-based tourism (CBT) development, and environmental sustainability. Using a mixed-methods approach including qualitative interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and quantitative surveys of visitors, vendors, and homestay providers. The findings reveal that the festival revitalises traditional music, dances, and agrarian rituals, while strengthening community pride and generating livelihood opportunities. Economically, the festival generated revenues that directly benefited households through homestays, food, and handicraft sales. Environmentally, the festival enforces a zero-waste policy. Nonetheless, challenges include infrastructure strain, carrying capacity limits, commercialisation risks, and uneven distribution of benefits. This paper situates Kholey Dai as a model of grassroots sustainable tourism with implications for rural festivals globally.