Kozhikode: The post flood period has almost given an isolated look to all tourism destinations in Wayanad district. The worst affected is the Banusara Hydel tourism centre that has seen a steep dip in the flow of tourists since the Nipah virus outbreak in Kozhikode district.
The number of visitors registered in the records of Banasura Hydel tourism centre has seen a steep decrease in the flow of tourists. Officials from Wayanad District Promotion Council said that since last month, the number of visitors to the various tourism centres in the district has dipped close to 50 percent as compared to previous months or years.
DTPC official C.R. Hariharan said, “After Nipah, landslides at Thamarassery-Wayanad Ghats, monsoons and the recent flash flood, the Banasura has been witnessing a major downfall in the number of tourists visiting the spot.
June and August of 2017 saw 35.522 and 50,948 tourists respectively visiting the hydel tourism centre at Banasura, which reduced to less than 10,000 and 5,000 respectively in 2018. The same spots even had seen more than 60,000 visitors coming to these centres in just a month, especially in the month of July and August, which has now turned to be just a dream. The centre was even closed down for more than 13 days due to several reasons, including the flash flood, the officials added.
Ramakrishnan N, a resident here said, “The impact of flood on the lives of the people, including the local business has affected adversely. Bookings by tourists for rooms and other facilities has also come down. “As the scale of disaster in the State is so bad, we don’t expect tourists from the State or other States to travel to Wayanad for the next two to three months, which indirectly will have an adverse impact on the tourism industry,” he added.
