Tourist footfall to the Nilgiris increases by 4 lakh in 2023

Published - January 01, 2024 06:43 pm IST - UDHAGAMANDALAM

Tourists enjoying the New Year’s day at Government Botanical Garden in Udhagamandalam on Monday.

Tourists enjoying the New Year’s day at Government Botanical Garden in Udhagamandalam on Monday. | Photo Credit: M. SATHYAMOORTHY

Tourist footfall in the Nilgiris has increased by more than 15% in 2023, with the total number of visitors to the Government Botanical Garden increasing by 4 lakh this year.

According to officials from the Department of Horticulture and Plantation Crops, the number of tourists to the Garden increased from 24 lakh to 28 lakh in 2023 when compared with the previous year.

D. Balasankar, Deputy Director of Horticulture (Nilgiris), said the year 2022 witnessed a surge in tourists to the district after the end of restrictions to traveling following the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, tourist inflow into the district increased further, by almost 17%.

The number of visitors to the Garden is used as an estimate of the total number of visitors to the district as most of the visitors to the Nilgiris visit the garden at least once during their stay.

The number of tourists to the district has also increased after Christmas, with more than 13,000 people on an average visiting the Garden since December 25. According to officials, visitor numbers to the district over the weekend stood at more than 27,000.

The increase in tourists during the New Year’s day weekend led to heavy traffic jams in Ooty and Coonoor towns, especially around the Botanical Garden, Rose Garden, Doddabetta Road and Sims Park. The Nilgiris district police pressed over 200 additional personnel into service to ensure smooth traffic flow across major towns in the district.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.