Vijayapura: The historic monuments of the City which were witnessing a limited number of visitors owing to lockdown, is gradually recording substantial increase in number of visitors with passing day.
After the government relaxed Covid restrictions, monuments such as Gol Gumbaz is getting a greater number of visitors, who are coming to see the magnificent architectural beauty of the Adil Shahi monument.
According to the Archeological Survey of India (ASI), “The visitors for heritage places mainly Gol Gumbaz has increased by three times when compared to July and August. As many as 2,091 tourists visited the four-century-old monument in July. A total of 7,035 people visited the same monument in August. A mere 150 and 1,083 people visited Gol Gumbaz in July and August 2020 respectively.”
Earlier this year, the Department of ASI had restricted entry for visitors to ASI protected historical monuments from the last week of April to mid-June due to the surge in Covid – 19 cases across the country. Visitors were only permitted when the number of cases declined as a result of the implementation of certain Covid restrictions in June.
Even though the Central Government gave permission to open tourist places for seven days of the week, the historical places were closed on Saturday and Sunday in Karnataka as the State Government had imposed weekend curfew till the end of July.
With tourism activities returning back to normal, the transport service providers, hoteliers and other businesses dependent on the same sector are heaving a sigh of relief.
Chandrakanth Shetty, a hotelier, pointed out that, “As people turn out in good numbers to the historical places the business is picking up slowly. Since the outbreak of novel coronavirus, we are witnessing good business in this quarter. We hope that the same trend continues in the coming days.”
“However, the tourists from neighbouring states Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh are yet to turn out in good numbers. At present only people from surrounding districts and locals are thronging in large numbers. The government should also work on improving tourism as many businesses dependent on this sector are totally under financial difficulties,” urged hotelier Shetty.
According to sources, “The people from Maharashtra are not coming in good numbers to tourist places because the State Government has made it mandatory for interstate travellers to produce Covid – 19 negative certificates, not older than 72 hours, at the check post in order to take entry to Karnataka.”
On condition of anonymity, a tourism department officer, said that, “We are making maximum efforts to increase the tourism activities in the district. We are planning for an intensive advertisement campaign of the historical places in the coming days to create awareness among the people. Meanwhile, people coming from Maharashtra and other states have to abide by the rules of the State Government.”
