Visits to wildlife sanctuaries soar

Kochi: Footfalls and income of the eco-tourism spots and wildlife sanctuaries across the state registered a year-on-year increase during FY15, shows data from the Kerala forest department. Between the 19 eco-tourism centres, they recorded a flow of 37.46 lakh visitors during FY15, compared to 29.94 lakh visitors of the previous year. Similarly the income generated touched Rs 9.39 crore from Rs 6.40 crore of the previous fiscal.
Sixteen wildlife sanctuaries and national parks of the state registered 16 lakh visitors during FY15, compared to 15 lakh of the previous year. The income from these parks reached Rs 7.06 crore from Rs 6.65 crore of the previous year. Among wildlife sanctuaries Periyar Tiger Reserve attracted the maximum number of visitors-6.26 lakh visitors during FY15. It is also the park which attracted the maximum number of foreign tourists- 43,542 during the period.
Eravikulam National Park came second with 4.83 lakh visitors of which 11,329 foreign tourists. Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary attracted 1.21 lakh visitors of which 4,649 were foreign tourists.
Among eco-tourism spots, Athirappilly Falls, tops the list with 11.83 lakh visitors during FY15 and among them 12,294 were foreigners. Second most popular spot was Ponmudi of Thiruvananthapuram district which recorded 351,919 tourists, of them 1,545 were foreigners.
Kuruva Island in Wayanad attracted 3.06 lakh tourists, while Palaruvi Falls recorded a flow of 2.89 lakh visitors. Kumbhavurutty Falls in Kollam district attracted 2.02 lakh visitors during FY15. Thusharagiri in Kozhikode district attracted 1.50 lakh visitors and Canolli's Plot in Malappuram district had 1.45 lakh visitors. Eco-tourism activities at Konni had 1.26 lakh visitors, while Mankayam in Thiruvananathapuram recorded 1.05 lakh visitors. Vazhachal with 1 lakh visitors, Kallar with 92,175 visitors and Kodanad with 89,522 visitors were other popular eco-tourism centres of the state.