HYDERABAD: Cloudy weather with occasional drizzle for the past few weeks has been beckoning thousands of tourists to Ananthagiri, a popular tourist spot in Vikarabad district of Telangana. As major tourist destinations in and around Hyderabad remain closed in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, those with itchy feet appear to be finding solace exploring nature’s beauty in Ananthagiri – almost 80 km away from Hyderabad.
According to the Vikarabad tourism department, Ananthagiri hills is also where the Musi river originates – a tributary of the Krishna River that flows through Hyderabad – is one of the most famous destinations in the State as it is closer to the city and is best suited for both eco-tourism and religion tourism.
Stating that tourism is slowly getting back on its feet, in Ananthagiri, the official from the tourism department said, “Vikarabad gets tourism throughout the year as there are many popular tourist destinations, including roads that are brighter-trekking friendly, Padmanabha Temple, and Kotipally reservoir. The district gets around `25 lakh in tourism revenue every month.
However, ever since the lockdown the tourism has also suffered a lot.” Anticipating tourism to get better in a few months, he added, “In the last month, we are witnessing that a lot of young tourists especially working in IT sectors who want to explore nature have started coming back for weekend getaways.
During the Ganesh Chaturthi holiday, tourists were seen teeming at Kotipally Reservoir, which is overflowing due to good rains this year. Zoomcar, a personal mobility platform, has also seen an increase in the demand especially for short-term mobility. The rise in demand has been noted for cars for personal work and for short getaways.
Restaurants reopen
In order to encourage tourism, the Telangana tourism department has re-opened State-run Haritha resorts. “The resort has reopened but the bar and restaurant facility inside the resorts are still not open due to the social distancing norms, because to this there is still less occupancy in the resort. The monsoon season is the peak time for tourism in Ananthagiri, even though tourism has started to pick up in the district it is 50 per cent less than last year,” said manager of Ananthagiri Haritha Resort.