Tourism stakeholders meet Forest Min seeking free access to Valparai

COIMBATORE: Various tourism stakeholders from Valparai met Forest Minister K Ramachandran in Chennai on Thursday demanding to lift restrictions on tourists visiting the hills.

They sought to allow tourists without any restrictions. “If tourists are sent away, the tourism sector in the hills gets hit badly. We were hoping against hope for the tourism industry to bounce back to normalcy just like the pre-Covid times. But such unwarranted restrictions result in low tourist turn out,” said N Babu, secretary of Valparai Cottage Owners Association.

Moreover, Babu also alleged that the Forest Department has been collecting heavy entry fees for tourists visiting Valparai at Aliyar check post.

Pollachi Forest range officer V Pugalenthi said that they have been collecting only the government prescribed entry fee of Rs 30 for an adult and Rs 20 for children.

“Our restrictions were intended only to prevent illegal intrusion of tourists into forest areas,” he said.