Buzz is back in Hyderabad tourist places

Hyderabad: Even though the Covid-19 pandemic has affected all sectors of the economy, the travel and tourism sector, which were worst-hit in the State, are now on the path of recovery.

Hyderabad tourism, which is famous for its heritage monuments, palaces, museums, parks and boating suffered a major setback following the outbreak of Covid-19 last year. Even as the lockdown norms were lifted, there was a scare among public to visit tourist places.

However, the same tourist places and the recreational centres in the city are now witnessing a significant jump in footfalls. Prominent tourist places, including Lumbini Park, Nehru Zoological Park, Charminar, Chowmahalla Palace and Salar Jung Museum are now playing a host to visitors in large numbers, particularly during the weekends.

Telangana State Tourism Development Corporation (TSTDC) Managing Director B Manohar said, "The footfalls to local destinations have increased considerably with over 70 per cent increase post-Covid period. Whereas, the international tourist footfalls are still zero as the international flights haven't started yet."

He further added, "The fear of visiting tourist places has started to dissipate with the steady increase in number of visitors to most of the city's attractions. We still advise people to use face masks, sanitisers and maintain physical distancing till vaccination drive is completed."

According to the State Tourism Department, there has been a drastic improvement in the local tourism in the last few months. "A few local tourist destinations in the city are now getting footfalls even higher than the pre-Covid times. Leisure and entertainment destinations like Lumbini Park and Sanjeevaiah Park in the city, besides boating services in Hussain Sagar and Durgum Cheruvu have been getting more attention."

"In Lumbini Park, the footfalls on weekends used to be around 1,000. Now, the they have increased to around 7,000. For boating activities in Laknavaram and Karimnagar, the Tourism department used to earn a revenue of Rs 5 lakh on weekends, which has now been increased to Rs 6 lakh," they said.

Despite March to April being the lean tourism period due to school exams, the sector has been getting a good response this year. The department is also receiving good response from tourists going from Hyderabad to Tirupati, Srisailam and Shirdi.

Claiming that tourists are opting for private means of travel instead of public services due to Covid scare, officials said that the department's travel services were yet to gain momentum. "Many tourists are scared to visit far off places or travel abroad, and are therefore choosing to explore more local destinations," the officials said.