Rains Prematurely End Tourists' Summer Sojourn in ASR District

Visakhapatnam: Footfalls at popular tourist sites in ASR district have almost reached zero even though a week is left for the summer vacations to end.

Tour operators had hoped that the mild summer of 2025 will continue and the picturesque ASR district dotted with hills will continue to witness a good number of tourists. But thunder showers that began in the last week of April continued intermittently through May, keeping tourists confined to their homes.

Tourism department sources say that every year, around 30,000 people visit the various tourist sites in April and about 50,000 in May. The tourist season ends with southwest monsoon rains starting in the first week of June.

According to Gowri Shankar, manager of Borra Caves, around 60,000 people visited Borra Caves in May 2024. But this year, their number remained only 48,418. “During the past four days, only an average of 1,500 people visited the caves and other tourist spots,” Gowri Shankar told this correspondent.

He said landslides, rains and related problems had prevented people from visiting the hills this May.

Tourist season in the agency area begins in October and stretches till the end of January. For the ensuing 2025 season beginning October, district administration is sprucing up all popular tourist sites. It has proposed a home-stay project, which could convert over 3,000 homes into small hotels.

However, the district administration needs to improve roads, which had been built in the 1950s. During the peak season, roads get jammed and slow down traffic, many tourists have complained.

“ASR district must have more rooms for tourists, motorable roads to tourist spots, and toilets at several convenient places. Further, the administration must make serious efforts to curb the use of plastic,” said Barri Haribabu, a Vizagite, who often visits the remote agency areas in the district during all seasons.