Nilgiris summer festival | High ticket prices for flower show criticised

Tourists in Udhagamandalam shocked by 200% increase in ticket prices for annual flower shows at botanical and rose gardens.

Tourist visitors to the Government Botanical Garden (GBG) as well as the Rose Garden in Udhagamandalam are appalled at the more than 200% increase in ticket prices to view the annual flower show this year.

According to official sources, the ticket price, which was ₹30 for children and ₹50 for adults on regular days, was increased to ₹75 for children and ₹150 for adults wanting to enter the GBG during the flower show.

At Ithe Government Rose Garden too, where tickets were ₹20 for children and ₹40 for adults, the fare has now increased to ₹75 for children and ₹100 for an adult during the 19th Annual Rose Show.

B. Baskaran, a garment worker from Tiruppur, who had come to Udhagamandalam during the weekend to visit the botanical and rose garden with his two children said that he did not expect the entry prices to be so high. “Combined with the price of bus tickets, food and transport, I will be spending more than ₹1,000 in a single day, which is simply unaffordable,” he said, adding that he had decided to skip visiting the Rose Garden to save on costs. “I barely have enough money to buy tickets to return home,” he said. Mr. Baskaran said he was not aware that the Horticulture Department hiked entry fees during the summer festival.

“I had visited the Nilgiris with my wife a few years ago during the off-season, and didn’t remember paying such a high entry fee. When they advertise these summer festivals, they should also inform people that they are increasing prices so that people can calculate the costs beforehand,” said another visitor.

G. Janardhanan, president of the Ooty Public Awareness Association, said that the entry fee being charged was unfair to tourists as well as local residents. “Of course the entry fee is absurdly high for tourists. But it’s also unfair to local residents, many of whom will not visit the garden because of the high prices. They are already put to a lot of trouble due to the inconveniences caused by the tourist season, and added to that, they don’t even get to visit the garden,” he said, adding that local residents should be allowed to visit the gardens during the peak tourist season for free, or at a very subsidised entry price.

When contacted, a top official from the T.N. horticulture department, said that funding to improve facilities at the garden had been lacking for many years. “We were asked to raise ticket prices to be able to afford much-needed renovation work for structures such as the Fern House, Glass House, nursery and observatory, some of which have been closed down due to a lack of maintenance,” the official said, adding that the Department was looking into reducing the price of the entry ticket for adults visiting the botanical garden from ₹150 to ₹125.