Ooty Lake and Boat House will soon see adventure activities like zip line, boat racing and rock climbing, said Sandeep Nanduri, Director of Tourism and Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC), in Kotagiri in the Nilgiris on Saturday. .
Mr. Nanduri, who inaugurated the 11 and vegetable show in Kotagiri, marking the district’s first summer festival event, said the Nilgiris were one of the most popular tourist destinations in India. As the COVID-19 pandemic had severely affected the tourism industry across the state, the tourism department had planned adventure activities around Lake Ooty in the coming months to attract more visitors to the district.
“We are also developing guidelines to regulate campsites, bed and breakfasts as well as caravan parks,” Mr Nanduri said. Sites for ‘glamping’ or ‘glamorous camping’ would also be set up around Lake Ooty and other places in the Nilgiris to promote ‘experiential tourism’ in the district.
The 11th and vegetable show in Kotagiri drew thousands of visitors to Nehru Park on Saturday. The most eye-catching of the exhibits was a pair of giraffes, standing over ten feet tall, made from over 1.6 tons of carrots. Other vegetable sculptures and arrangements of everyday objects such as clocks, musical instruments as well as other animals were on display at the vegetable show.
Speaking at the event, Nilgiris Collector SP Amrith said that this year’s summer festival is being held on the occasion of the bicentenary of Nilgiris colonial exploration. He said the vegetable show would showcase the district’s commitment to organic farming and congratulated the farmers who set up stalls to display their produce at the show.
Stalls have been set up by the Department of Horticulture and Plantation Crops in other districts including Coimbatore, Tiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri, Theni, Dindigul, Kancheepuram, Villupuram and Kallakurichi. Mr Nanduri said there are plans to hold a flower and fruit exhibition in Chennai similar to the one held in the Nilgiris either in 2022 or 2023.
