More people visited popular tourist destinations in the state in April and May pushing up Tamil Nadu tourism’s revenue by 30%. Statistics show that most chose pilgrimages over leisure travel in April.
Popular summer destinations such as Udhagamandalam, Kodaikanal, Yercaud and Yelagiri were congested but it was pilgrim centres like Palani, Tiruchendur, Kumbakonam, Thanjavur, Kanyakumari and Rameswaram that drew more visitors in the last two months.
In April, Palani received 6,15,236 visitors and Kanyakumari received 6,12,536 visitors, which is more than the number of domestic tourists who visited Kodaikanal and Udhagamandalam.
Pilgrim centres saw more than one lakh visitors in April. Officials are still compiling the numbers for May but feedback from tourist centres shows that the numbers will be at least 15% more than that of April. Udhagamandalam received 25% more tourists in May than April.
The summer fair (‘kodai tiruvizha’) organised by the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) at Island Grounds in the city saw more than 5 lakh tourists, 50% of whom enjoyed the huge artificial waterfalls. The fair closes today.
"We had estimated a 15% increase in revenue for the last two months. But the increased tourist flow has pushed it up by a record 30%. This is substantial, compared to the corresponding period last year," an official said.
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