Footfalls in Gir up by 21% this season

“This season,4.16 lakh tourists visited Gir Wildlife Sanctuary (GWS) and Devaliya Safari Park and the government earned more than Rs 5 crore revenue. The tourist footfall this year is 21 per cent higher as compared to last year,” Sandeep Kumar,Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF) at Sasan Gir told The Indian Express Monday.

The GWS and Devaliya Park remain open to tourists from October 1 to June 15 every year. Tourist entry is barred during monsoon,which is the mating period of the big cats.

During 2011-12 season,around 3.43 lakh tourists visited GSW and Devaliya Park,while in 2010-11,the number was 2.71 lakh.

“The tourism promotional activities of the state government are attracting larger number of tourists to Sasan. However,it has nothing to do with the Supreme Court order of trans-locating a few lions to Madhya Pradesh as it came towards the end of the season,” Kumar added.

The DCF said they were preparing to open for public the Ambardi Safari Park near Amreli from next season,diverting flow of tourists. Tourists coming from Bhavnagar and other districts will no longer have to travel all the way to Sasan,he added.

The 1,412 kilometre Gir National park and Wildlife Sanctuary and some wasteland in Amreli,Bhavnagar and Porbandar districts are home to the only wild population of Asiatic lions in the world,categorised as endangered by International Union for Conservation of Nature.

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