Lacklustre start to summer tourism season in Ooty

Udhagamandalam and The Nilgiris as a whole are the only exception in Tamil Nadu where the temperature hasn’t soared following the start of katheri. 

At Udhagamandalam, the climate is pleasant. The Nilgiris also enjoys occasional drizzles. But this enjoyable climate has not been enough to attract a good crowd to the town that is primarily dependent on tourism for its economy. “About 20 per cent seats in the bus I came on Friday night were unoccupied,” says Moti Joseph (26) of Bengaluru.

The impact of the drought has prevented farmers from planning a luxury trip to Ooty. On the other hand, high cost for everything starting from four-wheeler parking to accommodation and food is said to be the other main reason that had dented the flow of tourists. 

Tourists are also losing interest as they feel that nothing new is added to the town. The footfall at the Government Botanical Garden is seen as the benchmark for calculating the crowd visiting the tourism town. Staff at the garden said around 33,000 of them came there on April 30. But it was only around 21,000 on May 6.

Secretary of Ooty Town All Merchants Association J Ravi Kumar said, “There is a change in the tourist flow that has affected business.” He recalled that a few years ago tourism season began during the end of March and went on till mid-June. 

“Beginning of the season got delayed to April 15 and now the tourism season is restricted to the month of May. This is due to the changing school holiday season and special classes at schools. On the other hand, the floating population is increasing. Most tourists hurriedly visit all the places in Ooty in a day and return by evening,” he said.

Stating that there are more than 5,000 shops in Udhagamandalm, he said that tourists in a hurry leave them with poor business as they don’t have time to shop. “Since it is the Agni Natchatram season we expect tourists to flood Udhagamandalam town in the next few days,” Ravi added. 

District collector D Shankar told DTNext that the crowd is on the rise every year. “We had 31.16 lakh tourists last year and expect the numbers to reach 35 lakh this year. Response for the vegetable show was very high and this might be doubled compared to last year. With a host of the summer festival events like the flower and rose show, the crowd will go up,” he remarked.