Rains, e-pass affect tourist footfall at Ooty

COIMBATORE: In a disappointment to the State Tourism Department, the tourist inflow to Ooty, the popular hill retreat, dipped drastically. The month of May considered a peak season for tourist inflow because of the lined-up shows, had indeed failed to attract people in large numbers.

“The flower show held last year at the Government Botanical Garden (GBG) attracted over 1.30 lakh tourists though it was just for five days. However, this year saw only 2.41 lakh visitors despite the flower show being held for 17 days. The GBG received 3.72 lakh visitors on 26 May, whereas it received 5.54 lakh visitors during the same month, last year. The number of visitors to GBG is a rough estimate of tourists visiting the hills,” said D Balashankar, the Assistant Director of Horticulture (Nilgiris).

“It is confirmed that this year witnessed a low turn-out as the GBG received hardly 15,000 people daily compared to 22,000 to 25,000 footfalls last year. The arrivals reached a maximum of 21,000 only on a single day this month,” he added.

In analysing the drop in tourist arrivals, reasons like untimely rains, the introduction of e-pass, hiked entry fees in parks, and a spike in the rentals of private accommodations during the summer were attributed to the low turn-out.

“The introduction of the e-pass system during COVID-19 had hampered tourists, especially from other states. Besides this, the spiked cost of entry fees to GBG and other parks is also a reason to be blamed for a dip in turn-out,” said T Krishnaraj of the Nilgiris Hotel and Restaurant Owners Association.

The high cost of entry tickets during the inaugural days of the flower show was reduced from Rs 150 to Rs 125 after receiving a strong backlash, while it remained unchanged at Rs 75 for children. Since this Monday, the visitors have been charged Rs 100 for adults and Rs 50 for children not only in GBG but also in the Rose Garden, Sims Park, and others maintained by the horticulture department in Nilgiris. Despite the end of flower shows at the GBG, the high entry fees in other smaller gardens and parks have irked the visitors.

Normally, the visitors are charged an entry fare of Rs 50 for adults and Rs 30 for children in GBG, while Rs 40 for adults and Rs 20 for children in other gardens and parks. In previous years, the entry fee was hiked nominally to Rs 100 for adults and Rs 50 for children and it was in effect only during the specific days of the flower show.

“Only this year, the entry fare remains high even after many days since the flower show ended. A request has been made with the state government to reduce the entry fee through the District Collector and a favourable direction in this regard is awaited,” said another official.

The withered flowers in the GBG gallery were replaced with fresh ones, while the flowers in the model exhibits were changed in batches at least thrice during all 17 days of the show to attract visitors. The overall collection of entry fees has surged because of the hiked fare despite the drop in visitors.