Tourism bouncing back in Hyderabad

Many facilities witness significant jump in footfalls, some register pre-Covid rush

Hyderabad: One of the industries that remained severely impacted even after lockdown relaxations, the tourism sector has started to show signs of recovery with many prominent tourist spots in the city now teeming with visitors.

Hyderabad tourism, which is famous for heritage monuments, palaces, parks, boating and museums, suffered a major setback following the outbreak of Covid-19 last year. Even as the lockdown was lifted, there was a scare among public and eventually tourist spots sported a deserted look for months.

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And now the same tourist places and recreational centres in the city are witnessing a significant jump in footfalls and some of them have even been registering pre-Covid-19 footfall.

Prominent tourist places including Lumbini Park, Nehru Zoological Park, Charminar, Chowmahalla Palace and Salar Jung Museum are now playing host to visitors in large numbers, particularly during the weekends.

According to Telangana State Tourism Development Corporation (TSTDC) officials, the tourism industry was affected badly due to Covid-19 with most refraining from a visit to tourist spots or recreational facilities even after the unlock was announced.

TSTDC Managing Director, B Manohar said the fear of visiting tourist places has started to dissipate given the steady increase in the number of visitors to most of the city attractions. However, he cautions, it is advisable to use face masks, sanitisers and maintain physical distancing till vaccination drive was completed.

“The foreign tourist footfalls are almost nil in Hyderabad following restrictions on international travel. On the other hand, the tourism industry is yet to pick in the districts as the response from tourists is not up to the mark,” he added.

100 per cent footfall at Lumbini Park

The beautiful and lush park, which offer many activities along with boating facilities provided by Telangana Tourism has been registering remarkable footfall for the last few weeks.

At present, Lumbini Park has been witnessing a footfall of 10,000 during weekends and 4,000 on weekdays and the figures were almost the same before Covid-19. Telangana Tourism is earning a revenue of Rs 5 lakh from ticket sales in this park on weekends and public holidays.

Near to usual rush at Salar Jung Museum

Housing close to 40 galleries in three buildings, Salar Jung Museum has been attracting tourists from different parts of the city. Spread over 10 acres, the museum has 9,000 manuscripts, over 40,000 art objects and 45,000 printed books.The museum was closed on March 15 due to the Covid-19 outbreak and opened last November. Every day, around 3,000 people used to visit the museum and the numbers were a little higher on weekends.

“Though numbers were less when the museum was reopened, visitors rush has improved these days. On weekdays, the rush is less, but it has been picking up On weekends with over 2,000 visiting the museum,” said Museum director Nagender Reddy.

Rush improves at Zoo Park

When the zoo was reopened, fear of Covid-19 resulted in a dip in visitor footfall at the Nehru Zoological Park in the city despite the authorities introducing several safety measures post-pandemic. On weekdays, around 3,000 to 3,500 tourists are visiting the zoo, while the numbers go up to 15,000 on weekends. Authorities are expecting a further rise in footfalls in coming weeks as the situation has been returning to normalcy.

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