Tourists head for Corbett
Park to celebrate
New Year in the wild
by
Vipul Goel
Ramnagar
(Uttarakhand): Tourists from different parts of the
country arrived at the Jim Corbett wildlife sanctuary
in Uttarakhand to celebrate New Year amidst the wildlife.
Most of them said that they are mainly driven by a strong
inclination to enjoy the experience of seeing wildlife
in their natural habitat. "We had our booking done almost
15 days back. We are here basically to watch the animals.
Being nature lovers, we wanted to see the natural habitat
and that's why we have come here with our children," said
Jaydeep Dutta, a tourist from Mumbai, which was recently
attacked by terrorists. Security arrangements at the park
have been strengthened to prevent any untoward incident
here. Tourists have been clearly instructed not to leave
their respective safaris until their permits are checked
thoroughly.
"This time the park
is all jam-packed. Because of these Mumbai attacks, the
foreign tourists may have cancelled their bookings. But
the local tourists have thronged the park completely.
The rush is still on," said Dheeraj Joshi, a tour operator.
Although there are other popular parks in the country
like Dudhwa, Bandhavgarh and Ranthambhor, the Jim Corbett
National Park is clearly the favourite. Tourist operators
have expressed their delight over the tourist inflow at
the year-end. "This year, the number of tourists has increased
manifold. All the rooms of our resorts are full. Besides,
bookings for the safari jeeps are still on," said D.S
Rawat, Sub-divisional Officer, the Corbett National Park,
Ramnagar. According to Rawat, the increase in the tiger
population inside the park may be a reason for the greater
tourist inflow. The Corbett National Park is pread over
an area of 520.82 square kilometers. If the neighbouring
Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary is included, the length of
the park is 1318 square kilometers. It is about 280 kilometers
from national capital New Delhi and can be reached by
train and bus. The main animal attractions are elephants,
tigers, chital, mugger, crocodile and migratory birds
etc. The park also includes a crocodile pool, the Dhikala
Machaan, the Getheryo Library (Dhikala), the Corbett Museum
(Dhangadi gate), the Corbett Fall, the Garjia Temple and
the house in which Jim Corbett lived. The Corbett National
Park is majorly divided in three zones for public wildlife
sighting. They are the Jhirna Range, which remains open
round the year, the Bijrani Range, which remains open
between October 1 and June 30 each year and the Dhikala
Range, which remains open from November 15 to June 15
each year. In winter (September - March), the days are
clear and pleasant, Nights get cold. Great time for bird-watching
and tiger sighting. In summer (April to June), the days
are hot with pleasant nights. It is an ideal time for
sighting animals, especially elephants and tigers. In
the monsoon (July - August), the days and nights are humid.
It is a great time for walks and trekking.
Ban
on beach parties affects tourism in Goa
Panaji:
Following security threats after the terror attacks
in Mumbai, authorities in Goa decided to impose ban on
beach parties. And global recession has added to the woes
of the people associated with the hospitality, travel
and tourism industry in Goa. Reportedly, about 40 per
cent revenue loss has been incurred till now.
"Revenue-wise
it's very difficult to give a specific figure, but I would
say that there would be a loss of almost about 40 per
cent of the total revenue. Because what has happened is
that what rates we used to get during Christmas and New
Year we haven't got. Secondly, most of the big hotels
are not doing very well. Thirdly, most of the hotels that
were having dinners and were charging for dinners have
also slashed on their rates for dinners and some of the
small hotels are not having dinners at all," said Charles
Bonifacio, Vice President, Tour and Travel Association,
Goa. Tourism is the lifeline of Goa and due to terror
threats the hotel industry has been badly hit. Even star
rated hotels have confirmed that their occupancy rate
varies between 20 to 25 per cent while in the smaller
lodges it is in the range of 70 to 75 per cent. Earlier,
all hotels used to be booked a month prior to New Year
celebrations. Tourism industry earns nearly 15 billion
rupees revenue for the Government every year. Due to terror
threats, tourism industry is apprehending losses worth
millions of rupees in this period. Shopkeepers in Goa
have also expressed their distress at the less number
of tourists as a result of which they are foreseeing heavy
losses. Above all, the posse of security personnel in
and around the market place seems to have made the atmosphere
jittery and discouraged tourists from shopping. "People
are not coming here as there are talks that Goa is the
blast target. And the ones who are already here are also
living in fear. We have come here from very far and have
spent a lot of money. So we have to set up our shops.
But when we come here we see that after every five feet
there are policemen. So we are always living in fear and
are facing lot of problems," Maria, a shopkeeper. The
famed beaches of Goa have been luring tourists from all
over the world for the nightlong extravaganzas during
the year-end festive season.
-Dec
31, 2008
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