'Sensitive day', rain cut footfalls at tourist spots in Chennai by 30%

CHENNAI: Visitors to tourist attractions in and around the city came down by at least 30% on Saturday in view of the Supreme Court verdict in the Ayodhya case . Officials attributed the drop to many people refraining from visiting public places on a sensitive day, coupled with rain.


The Children’s Park in Guindy which draws a significant number of tourists during the weekends, recorded a dip of nearly 50%.

While about 3,400 people visited the park on Sardar Patel Road on November 2, the numbers dipped to 1,830 on Saturday.

“A majority of visitors were locals. We had few tourists from other parts of the state. The main reason could be people being cautious and preferring not to travel following the Ayodhya verdict ,” an official at the park said. The facility is one of the top tourist attractions in the city.

In Mamallapuram, the number of visitors fell to between 30,000 and 35,000. According to the Kancheepuram police, the footfalls were fewer compared to more than one lakh visitors to the ancient port town during a weekend in October, due to rain. Mamallapuram got a facelift for the India-China informal summit in October.

“However, we can’t directly relate it to the Ayodhya verdict as the tourist numbers had dipped substantially last Sunday as well,” a police officer said.

Interestingly, the Arignar Anna Zoological Park in Vandalur saw a rise in the number of visitors on Saturday, compared to November 2. “The numbers dropped in the evening due to heavy rain,” a zoo official said, adding that 4,528 people visited the zoo on Saturday.