Moderate weather woos holidaymakers to Ooty

Coimbatore: Udhagamandalam’s relatively moderate weather so far this month seems to be making it a popular destination for the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Despite increasing entry fee, the Government Botanical Garden (GBG), which is usually the hill station’s measuring scale for tourist inflow, is seeing more tourists this year compared to the same season last year. The number is expected to cross 10,000 visitors a day from Saturday.

Though December and January are known as Ooty’s coldest months, the hill station’s temperature seem moderate when compared to its counterpart — Kodaikanal. The hill station this year has been recording maximum temperature of around 19 degrees Celsius and minimum temperature of around 8 degrees Celsius, compared to Kodaikanal’s day temperature which is hovering around 18 degrees Celsius.

“Weather in Ooty is right now manageable with winter clothing,” Shruti Shankar, a mother of a four-year-old and owner of a holiday home in the hill station, said.

“It is only after 8pm and outside the main city limits that it gets really cold. With room heaters, children are loving the weather and cosines,” Shruti Shankar, who is a regular visitor to the hill station, said.

Deputy director of horticulture department Sivasubramaniam said, “In December, we see an average of around 6,000 tourists a day. If you take day-to-day comparison from December one to 15, there was an increase in number of visitors daily. The increase ranges from 10% to 50%.”

“With temperature staying normal, we expect the inflow to increase to 10,000 a day from the weekend before Christmas,” he added.

The GBG had recently increased its visitor entry fee from Rs 15 to Rs 20 for children and from Rs 30 to Rs 40 for adults.

“It is primarily tourists who visit the garden and an increase in entry fee hardly stops them from visiting our garden, which is known as one of the cleanest places in Ooty,” Sivasubramaniam said.

A senior officer in the hill station’s tourism department said Christmas holidays which coincides with half-yearly holidays for children provides a good boost for hotels and food and beverage industry. “Most hotels and homestays are reporting 60% occupancy,” he said. “These two weeks helps them offset the dull season of November and first half of December,” he added.