KOZHIKODE: Tourist flow to prominent hill stations of Munnar and Wayanad registered a significant increase during Puja holidays between October 1 and October 5 this year, than what was recorded in the same period last year, said Tourism Department officials.
It is believed that many tourists from Karnataka and North Indian states skipped the hill stations of Tamil Nadu like Kodaikanal and Ooty due to the law and order issues there in the wake of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J.Jayalalithaa’s arrest.
The weekend crowd from Bengaluru headed for Wayanad while the North Indian crowd headed for Munnar. “Most of these last minute visitors failed to get lodging facilities in Wayanad as all the rooms in all hotels and even smaller lodges were full”, said M.S.Dinesan, an official of the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) at Kalpetta, Wayanad.
The rush was at its peak on October 4, October 5 and October 6. Up to October 6, as many as 25,121 tourists visited Pookkot Lake, the prime tourism destination, whereas only around 19,000 people visited the destination during the corresponding period last year.
“We had a heavy flow of visitors to all places in the district like never before. No rooms are available now and we are struggling to give accommodation to visitors”, said V.R. Mohananpillai, Additional District Magistrate, Idukki, who is in charge of DTPC. “The feedback from stakeholders says that more than 70 per cent of the crowd is from North India and 90 per cent from the State”, he said, adding that there could be an increase of up to 40 per cent due to the turbulent political climate in Tamil Nadu.
