Children flock to city’s amusement park, drive footfall, ticket sale

Ranchi: With schools being shut for summer vacation, kids, along with their parents, are flocking to amusement parks. And park owners — after facing a lull for two years because of the pandemic – are registering a significant rise in the sale of tickets.
Aqua World manager Avinash Singh said, “Around 500 tickets are being sold daily and the number goes up to 1,000 during weekends, a first in the past two years. We are organising special events like ‘Summer Carnival’ to attract visitors.”
Ramesh Singh, the owner of Nigam Park, said, “We are selling around 200–300 tickets per day. The figure goes up on weekends.”
One Karun Munda, who was at Aqua World with his son, said, “We were stuck at home for the past two years. When our son’s school closed for summer vacation, we decided to take him to an amusement park.”
The Shahid Sankalp Children’s Park hosted a free summer camp for kids. “Around 1,000 entry passes are being distributed daily and the number doubles during the weekends,” Sankalp Sameer, one of the park’s management staff, told TOI.
Ajay Kumar, the caretaker of Krishna Park, said, “Prior to the summer vacation, mostly college students used to visit the park as it is situated near a college. Nowadays, families and children are noticed. Over 300 tickets are sold daily.”
Food stalls have mushroomed in and around the parks. Mohit Ram, who runs a food stall, said, “Sales have gone up this year. I couldn’t open my shop in the past two years since parks were closed and thus, there were no visitors.”
Ravi Kumar, the owner of Ravi Samosa Chat Stall, said, “People are coming out of their homes with families to enjoy the summer vacation. This is proving profitable for our business.” Sarjit Ray, who sells ice-creams said: “We are seeing a surge in demand for ice-creams. A large number of kids come to my stall daily to beat the heat.”