The threat of rain predicted by the Indian Meteorological Department for the Nilgiris has been blamed for slump in visitors to the tourist location during the second season, officials said.
Horticulture and tourism department officials also said that the floods in Kerala too has led to a sharp fall in tourist numbers to the Nilgiris.
Speaking to The Hindu , a top official from the horticulture department said visitors to the Government Botanical Garden, Rose Garden and Sims Park had seen a drop of up to 25 % over the last few months. “We noticed the decline right after the floods hit Kerala, and were expecting an upturn in visitor numbers towards the end of September and beginning of October,” the official said, adding that however, such predictions have not materialised.
Tourism department officials too said that there has been a significant impact, with officials estimating a fall in visitors to the boat house of more than 1 lakh tourists over the last three months, when compared with last year.
“The drop in tourist numbers has remained fairly stable over the last three months, at around 30,000 less than compared to previous years,” the official said.
The rather unexpected lack of crowds in the district's most popular tourist locations has however been welcomed by first-time visitors to the Nilgiris.
R. D. Kalpana and her husband, Sumanth, from Chennai, said that they were warned of the threat of rain when they were making plans.
“We decided to brave the weather and got here, and were easily able to find accommodation at reasonable rates,” said Ms. Kalpana.
The sporadic rain have largely not had a huge impact on the district, though around 500 mm fell in different parts of the Nilgiris on Monday night and Tuesday morning.
