The Nilgiris district will probably become the top tourist destination in the country. While Mumbai holds that spot now, the difference between the number of tourists visiting the two places is only 17,000, according to Tourism Secretary R. Kannan.
Addressing the valedictory of the Ooty summer festival on Saturday, he expressed the hope that the district would soon overtake Mumbai. Towards this direction, a host of development activities were under way.
He said that Rs. 2.5 crore had been allotted to the Hill Area Development Programme not only to renovate the existing tourist attractions, but also to set up new ones.
Further, Rs. 37 lakh had been sanctioned in the State Budget to develop Ooty.
In addition, the Asian Development Bank had sanctioned a loan amount of Rs. 27.27 crore to set up an underground drainage system in Ooty.
While this would be the most complicated of projects, he was optimistic that it can be efficiently executed.
The Tourism Secretary added that signboards would be erected across The Nilgiris and additional benches would be installed in all the parks and tourist sites. Nearly 80 per cent of all these works had been completed, he told the audience.
The Nilgiris Collector P. Sankar and Udhagamandalam municipal chairperson K. Sathyabama took part in the valedictory.
The Ooty summer festival comprised a host of shows ranging from flower, fruit, vegetable, rose and spices shows to cultural programmes and art shows.
