"These additional tourist attractions have led to a sharp increase in the daily tourists' footfall during November 2019," it said
The Statue of Unity is located near the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the river Narmada in Gujarat. Pic/PTI
New Delhi: In just over a year of its unveiling, the Statue of Unity in Gujarat has outdistanced the footfall of the Statue of Liberty in the US, with an average of 15,000 visitors a day.
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Twitterati took to the micro-blogging site to express their happiness over the news and thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for unveiling the Statue of Unity, a tribute to country's first Home Minister, Vallabhbhai Patel commonly known as the Ironman of India. #StatueofUnity' has been trending since Saturday morning with over 2,000 tweets. One user tweeted: "Congratulations to @GujaratTourism @narendramodi for creating an iconic identity and a message in itself to our nation #StatueofUnity."
"#StatueofUnity was the dream project of Narendra Modi. Now, this statue is proud of Gujarat and India. I will definitely visit," added another user. Posting a tweet, one wrote: "What a slap on the face of all the future predictors who were raising questions on the feasibility ; economic viability of the #StatueofUnity project."
The Statue of Unity, designed by the Indian sculptor Ram V Sutar is the world's tallest statue, at a height of 182 metres. It is located near the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the river Narmada in Kevadiya town in Gujarat. In a statement, Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd credited the rise in footfall at the monument to the addition of several new tourist attractions such as a jungle safari, children's nutrition park, cactus garden, butterfly garden, ekta nursery, dino trail, river rafting, boating, alongside multiple budget accommodation options.
"These additional tourist attractions have led to a sharp increase in the daily tourists' footfall during November 2019," it said. It also added that a total of 30,90,723 tourists have visited Kevadia till November 30 this year, generating a total income of R85.57 crore.
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