Over 15,000 tourists visit the Statue of Unity in Gujarat’s Kevadia every day.
NEW DELHI: The Statue of Unity at Kevadia in Gujarat has surpassed the tourists’ footfall at the 133-year-old Statue of Liberty in New York, United States, in just over a year of its unveiling, with an average of more than 15,000 tourists visiting the monument daily.
There has been a 74% increase in the tourists’ footfall at Kevadia over the daily average of first year. A total of 309,0723 of tourists have visited Kevadia till 30 November ever since its inauguration last year, which has generated an income of Rs 85.57 crore.
The Statue of Unity is a statue of Vallabhbhai Patel, the first Home Minister of the country. With a height of 182 metres, it is the world’s tallest statue. It is located near the Sardar Sarovar Dam on river Narmada in Kevadia colony in Gujarat.
Designed by Indian sculptor Ram V. Sutar, the project was first announced in 2010 and was finally unveiled on 31 October last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After this, several new tourist attractions were added at Kevadia. These additional tourists’ attractions have led to a sharp increase in the daily tourists’ footfall during November 2019.
“With 74% increase over the daily average of the first year i.e. 1 November 2018 to 31 October 2019, daily average of 15,036 is now registered in the first month of this second year. This has further increased to 22,430 on weekend days. The Statue of Liberty in the US attracts around 10,000 visitors a day,” a statement by Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd said.
A number of new tourist attractions have been added at Kevadia, which include Jungle safari, children nutrition park, cactus garden, butterfly garden, Vishwa Van, Ekta Nursery, Ekta Mall, Ekta auditorium, Ekta Dwar, Dino Trail, Arogya Van, Zarvani Eco-tourism, Khalwani Eco-tourism, budget accommodation, Sardar Sarovar Resort, Glow Garden, decorative lighting & illumination, facilities like river rafting, boating, cycling, food court and WiFi etc.
Thus, the Statue of Unity in Gujarat has overtaken the Statue of Liberty in New York in terms of daily average footfall. This is to be noted that the Statue of Liberty in US is a 133-year-old world famous monument, whereas the Statue of Unity in Gujarat is just 13 months old.