The Regional Science Centre and Planetarium (RSC) in Kozhikode registered a record footfall of 5.2 lakh last year. If the current trend is any indication, the RSC is set to better it this year.
RSC Project Coordinator V.S. Ramachandran said the centre had introduced a number of new attractions such as an ‘innovation hub’ to its research facility and a giant Archimedes screw to its science park.
“Going by the current trend, we expect to get at least 5.5 lakh visitors this year,” Mr. Ramachandran said.
The RSC is already in the first place in the country in terms of footfall. The Birla Planetarium in Kolkata is in the second spot with 3.7 lakh people visiting it last year. “Our achievement is despite the centre being in a relatively small city like Kozhikode,” he said.
Humble beginning
The RSC was started in 1997. The then Chief Minister, E.K. Nayanar, inaugurated it. It had only around 70,000 visitors per year then. The figure grew steadily.
A majority of visitors to the centre, its staff said, were repeaters.
It forced the centre to keep it constantly up-to-date by introducing fresh attractions at regular intervals, sources said.
“Otherwise, the visitors would lose interest and stop coming,” Mr. Ramachandran said.
Major overhaul
In a major overhaul, the centre introduced a multi-crore hybrid project to its planetarium last year.
It had a number of crowd-pulling features such as the magic mirror gallery, HD 3D theatre show, and a fun science gallery.
The centre was planning an important modification to one of its facilities, sources said.
“The eight-year-old human endurance gallery at the centre will soon be replaced with an gallery called ‘your ocean. It will be set up using Rs.50 lakh and the work will begin soon,” Mr. Ramachandran said.
The Regional Science Centre and Planetarium in Kozhikode registered a record footfall of 5.2 lakh last year.
