Onam sparks hopes of revival for Kumarakom tourism industry

Kumarakom: The festive season of Onam has surely given the much-needed impetus to the tourism sector with tourists thronging the beautiful locales of Kumarakom. Tens of thousands of tourists had come to the popular destination, especially on the prime festival days of Thiruvonam, Avittam and Chathayam late last week.

It is estimated that the local tourism sector has earned an impressive revenue of about Rs 1.25 crore in the last few days.

Hotels and houseboats had offered amazing discounts and offers for the visitors. Most visitors were interested in enjoying rides in the houseboats and shikara boats.

More than 100 boats among the fleet of 120 houseboats had run trips with guests on board on these three days as the 10-day Onam festivities peaked. Various tour packages ranging between Rs 5,000 and 20,000, including the food, were on offer.

Interestingly, the houseboats that were either undergoing maintenance works or didn’t have sufficient crew were the only ones that didn’t go for any trips. There weren’t any houseboats available on the day of Thiruvonam as most of them had been booked. Besides, there was a shortage of pearl spot, a popular indigenous fish, which is a main item on the unique menu on the houseboats.

More than 90 shikara boats too were engaged with tourists hiring the smaller boats to enjoy a short ride in the backwaters.

Many tourists were seen enjoying the splendid beauty of the Vembanadu Lake from the Naalupangu boat terminal too.

Most rooms taken
Hotels, resorts and home stays too saw a surge in the number of bookings. Out of the 950 rooms available in Kumarakom, guests had occupied around 900 rooms. Some hotels couldn’t accommodate guests in all the rooms as few of them were under maintenance.

The local tourism sector hopes that the spirit of Onam would revive tourism in Kumarakom which has seen a lull due to the COVID-19 pan