Tourists throng popular destinations to make most of extended weekend

Tourists are making a beeline towards Courtallam, Tiruparapu and Kumbakarai falls too.

At Rameswaram, people stood in long queues, to offer prayers at the Ramanathaswamy temple. En route Dhanushkodi, tourists made it a point to visit Kalam memorial. Tourists spots at Kodaikanal like Bryant Park, suicide point, Guna cave, pine forests and lake were excessively crowded. Similarly, there was heavy influx of tourists at Courtallam and Kumbakarai falls.

Despite a ban on joy rides in fishing boats in Rameswaram and Mandapam, visitors indulged in the same without using life jackets. Not wanting to let go of the opportunity, fisherfolk fleeced the tourists. In February, a few tourists who ventured into sea in a fishing boat at Manapad died when the boat capsized.