OOTY: While the showers over the past three days here has come as a welcome sign, the autumn tourist season, popularly known as the second season of Ooty, has begun to set in at the Nilgiri hills, amid the hospitality industry looking forward to vibrant tourism for the next two months here in the hills.
The dawn of September always brings cheers and warmth to the hills as it paves the way for tourism activities to spurt after a gap of nearly 3 months. Usually, tourism here is at a low-ebb between June and August after the popular summer tourist season in April and May. The autumn is different in the hills in a few ways. It is season with blend of shine, rain, mist, wind, and colorful bloom. However, after the gloomy weather that generally runs through the months between June and August, the autumn that runs between September and mid-November always brings the enjoyable salubrious mountain weather with good blooms dotting the hills around.
While the rejuvenated hills has begun to sport a verdant look, the bloom of some wild flowers, misty mornings, shiny day weather coupled with autumn showers that are back in the hills now, herald the arrival of autumn season. These augur well for the travel and tourism industry to look up to good tidings in the days to come.
Stating that nearly around 3.50 lakh tourists generally visit the Government Botanical Garden (GBG), a stellar tourist attraction here, during autumn, Mr N. Mani, joint director of Horticulture said that the garden is expected to be in full autumn bloom from the second week of September. This apart, 6,500 flower pots with blooms of colorful flowers in different varieties will be displayed in the flower show gallery in GBG from mid-September to treat the tourists, he added.
