Rise in tourist arrivals at Yelagiri Hills - Serena Josephine. M TIRUPATTUR: Yelagiri Hills witnessed a substantial rise in tourist arrivals this May. Other than tourists from surrounding areas, Chennai and Bangalore, adventure enthusiasts poured into Yelagiri during the summer vacation for trekking and paragliding.
According to the Tourist Information Centre at Yelagiri, around 1.5 lakh tourists visited Yelagiri in May alone. This was an increase from one lakh tourists in May 2010. On the last Sunday of the month – May 29 – the hills received nearly 10,000 tourists.
“There were about 5,000 tourists in April. But May was the peak season with huge inflow of tourists due to the school holidays. At least 75 per cent of the tourists came to Yelagiri during the weekends. There was heavy crowd on May 29,” said Tourist Information Officer G. Sudhagar.
Persons from local areas including Tirupattur, Vaniyambadi and Ambur thronged Yelagiri for the summer vacation. Tourists from Chennai and Bangalore were also found in large number and the hotels were full for nearly two months, he added.
The boat house, Murugan temple, Nature park and musical fountain turned to be a huge hit among the tourists. In fact, many adventure lovers turned up for the vacation to go on trekking here, he said, adding, “We received at least 600 persons including from Chennai for trekking trips during April and May. Many of them trekked to Swamimalai and Sunset point.”
With Yelagiri turning into a hotspot for adventure sports activities, particularly paragliding, year after year, the summer vacation also saw a number of paragliding pilots visiting the hills. “There are three take-off sites for paragliding at Yelagiri. Pilots register at the tourism office for a year and receive passes, ” he said.
