Record 1 million tourists visit Ooty in April-May

Ooty: This year when the Modern Nilgiris is celebrating its bicentenary, the Government Botanical Garden (GBG) here, a British era legacy and stellar tourist attraction  here, has created a record of sorts as the influx of tourists to GBG in the summer months of April and May crossed  one Million for the first time in the history.

While the popular summer tourist season here runs between April and May, the tourist influx to GBG, which always attributed to the inflow of tourists to Ooty itself, showed that this summer the inflow stood at 10,49, 956.  In the corresponding period last year it was 9,96,778.

Mr. Shiva Subramanian Samraj, joint director of Horticulture here, said that the Flower Show this year in May also created a sort of history as it attracted 1.61 lakh tourists over the stretch of five days this summer.  

Stating that for the first time GBG witnessed influx of tourists over 10 lakh in summer season period  in April and May this year, he hoped that GBG wouldcontinue to attract more tourists and set new records in the future.

Meanwhile, the summer festival in Nilgiris that began on May 1, has concluded on Saturday with a function held at the Boat House in Ooty lake.  On the occasion, a boat race was held for the tourists and prizes distributed to the winners. Tourists enjoyed the event immensely.

RAMZAN CROWD: It is pertinent to note that though the official summer tourist season is over here, the influx of tourists to the hills here is continuing as the Ramzan holiday in the middle of next week is really extending the flow of tourists.  

Hospitality sector felt that tourist inflow toOoty would continue till the second week of June.