Dehradun: The Valley of Flowers National Park in Uttarakhand, which reopened its doors to visitors in June, has witnessed a decrease in the number of tourists. Approximately 13,000 tourists visited the park in the five months since its reopening, in contrast to the previous year’s record of 20,000 visitors. The park officially closed on Tuesday for the season.
Forest officials and local authorities attribute the drop in footfall to factors such as an erratic monsoon and bad road conditions. Gaurav Negi, the range forest officer at the Valley of Flowers, stated, “August is the peak time to visit the valley, but during that period, we experienced erratic rainfall and bad roads due to landslides. These factors have impacted this year’s tourist footfall compared to the previous year.”
The decrease in tourist numbers has also affected the park’s revenue, which totaled Rs 20 lakh in the past five months, down from Rs 31 lakh in the previous year. Interestingly, this year’s visitor count has returned to pre-pandemic levels, with nearly 13,000 individuals visiting the national park. In contrast, during the pandemic year of 2020-21, the park witnessed an all-time low with just 916 tourists.
While the reduced footfall may benefit the fragile ecosystem of the valley, environmentalists remain concerned about landslides, which can be triggered by various factors, including unscientific infrastructure development in the hills. During this year’s monsoon, from June to August, approximately 60 individuals lost their lives in road accidents in Uttarakhand.
