Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram   

Tourist activities yet to pick up in beach resort

By Our Staff Reporter

KOVALAM Nov. 12. The arrival of the first chartered flight from Gatwick in the United Kingdom on Sunday signalled the start of the tourist season in the international beach resort, but the usual hustle and bustle witnessed on the famed Light House, Eve's and Grove beaches are missing.

The hoteliers and the trade expect the arrival of foreign tourists to pick up in the coming weeks. Of the 230 tourists who arrived by the chartered flight, hardly 50 tan-seekers can be spotted on the Light House and Eve's beaches. Hawkers and beggars outnumber the holidayers on the Light House beach.

The majority of restaurants, call centres, Internet kiosks and shops selling handicrafts and curios from Kashmir and Tibet, which dot the Light House beach, wear a deserted look.

Many of the restaurant-owners and shopkeepers who had taken the shops on lease after coughing up huge sums of money are worried that the chartered tourists would skip Kovalam and proceed to beaches south of Kovalam and Marari.

However, the president of the local unit of the Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association, G. Sudhiesh Kumar, says the flow of holidayers to Kovalam would go up with the arrival of the second chartered flight next Sunday. "The August-October period was very good and the bookings for the season are encouraging,'' he said.

Many of the hawkers hoodwink the Tourism police to sell fruit and tender-coconuts on the beaches. Although hawkers have been allotted zones, they continue to approach the tan-seekers on the beaches. Some women fruit-sellers have fixed beach umbrellas near the dilapidated police aid post on the Light House beach.

A Tourism Department official said the various works being taken up at the beach resort will be expedited. A sum of Rs. 3 lakhs had been provided to Sidco for replacing the lights in the pathways and bulbs of the ornamental lamps in the pathway.

The PWD has been asked to complete the work on the footpath from the Kovalam Junction to the ITDC Junction and to relay the stretch soon. A sum of Rs. 36.5 lakhs had been provided to Sidco to install ornamental lights in the stretch, he said.

The warning boards on the beaches and the destination boards from Enchakkal would be replaced using retro-reflective material. A wooden walkway was also being constructed from Searock to the bus stand at a cost of Rs 36 lakhs. The wooden toilets being constructed at a cost of Rs. 5 lakhs near the Government Guest House would be completed within one month, the official said.

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