Visakhapatnam: The hot and humid weather of Vizag does not seem to have deterred the enthusiastic tourists.
Borra, in Araku Valley, has been visited by over one lakh tourists in the month of May alone. This number is 20,000 more than the number of tourists who visited the region in May last year, a 20 per cent incre-ase. Most of the tourists come from West Bengal, Odisha, and parts of coastal Andhra Pradesh.
Though temperatures have touched 45 degrees Celsius in many parts of Andhra Pradesh, Vizag has remained relatively cool. According to officials of the Tourism Depart-ment, temperatures in the region have remained around 36 degrees Celsius.
Though the temperatures at Lambasingi and Araku Valley are higher than last year, tourists have been visiting the area in anticipation of cool weather.
Usually, Vizag experiences a lull in tourist activity during the summer; but that does not seem to be the case this year. S. Badrinath, the manager of Borra Caves, says that the million-year-old caves that are situated in the Eastern Ghats have earned a revenue of '50 lakh through tourism, which is '10 lakh more than last year.
The AP Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) resorts and hotels in Araku Valley, Ananthagiri, Rushikonda, and Appughar have been fully booked through the month of May. APTDC officials say that even more tourists would have visited the region, had all the hotels and resorts in Vizag city not been reserved for TD’s Mahanadu for five days.
According to sources, over eight lakh tourists visited the city of Vizag last month, but only one lakh of them visited the popular tourist spots.
