After muted celebrations for 2 yrs, people hit tourist hotspots in city with vengeance

KOLKATA: After muted celebrations for two years due to Covid restrictions, the City of Joy is witnessing what can be termed as revenge tourism as lakhs of people thronged the tourist hotspots in Kolkata on the first day of 2023 to soak in the festive spirit.

If the footfall at tourist hotspots, such as Alipore Zoo or the Victoria Memorial, on Christmas and on December 31, was overwhelming, the number of tourists visiting these places on January 1, was staggering.

As per obtained statistics, about 90,927 people visited Alipore Zoo, where apart from watching animals, picnics on the zoo ground was the most common sight. The winter afternoon created a perfect ambience for badminton and home cooked picnic meals.

Several tourists thronged the Indian Museum where the footfall was more than 10,000. The historic artefacts and collections of the museum managed to enthrall people of all ages. While the museum offered rich insights into history, Science City successfully stirred up curiosities in the young crowd. It witnessed a footfall of around 31198 persons. Similarly, a large number of visitors thronged Victoria Memorial which saw a footfall of about 33497, while at the Eco Park in New Town the count stood at about 1,28,760. The Alipore Museum witnessed footfall of 16,293 and Aircraft Musuem saw footfall of 4,788. Meanwhile, a large number of devotees visited the Dakshineswar and Kalighat temples. People queued up since morning to offer prayers. A large crowd was also apparent at the Kashipur Udyanbati in North Kolkata for the annual 'Kalpataru Utsav'.

Additional state-run buses and vessels were deployed to take city-dwellers to their favourite spots. Long queues were found outside the famous restaurants in the city as well, especially in the Park Street area. Resorts in Digha, Shankarpur and Mandarmoni were fully booked and so were several hotels in North Bengal. Amidst this, several persons were wearing masks although a large section was not. The recent warning against a new Covid variant led some to admit that masks should remain mandatory, especially in festive seasons. The state government has already issued directives asking people to follow Covid protocols to prevent an outbreak.