Hyderabad: Footfall steadily rising at Salarjung Musuem

Darulshifta: Salarjung Musuem witnesses increased in number of visitors when compared to December. Domestic tourists accounting for most of the footfalls and the number of visitors has gone up from 25 to 35 percent. However. the number of foreign tourists remains bleak, given pandemic situation at global level.

Given the fact that tourism industry was amongst the worst hit following lockdown, the Salarjung Musuem which was reopened under tight COVID norms in November is slowly returning back to normal, but the footfall remains below 50 percent and the authorities were hopeful that the footfall may increase during summer. "By the end of December, only 25 percent, mostly domestic, of the normal influx visited the historical museum and from January the footfall steadily increased to 35 percent of the flow," said, officials of the Museum.

Earlier on an average. the number of visitors were 3,000 per day, while the current visitors per day is around 600 to 700. "When the Museum reopened, 400 visitors made to the Museum and on weekends it touched around 1000 visitors,' the official added.

The Salarjung Musuem is amongst one of the few institutions which according to the officials is strictly adhering to the stringent COVID norms. There are also clear instructions to the visitors to not to touch the showcases and the artefacts. "We made it clear that they should not touch, but some still ignore the instructions which cannot be helped. We also marked the places," he added.

Even though the Salarjung Musuem does not designate any guide, if the group of tourists interested in the history of the artefacts may arrange themselves one. The cultural programmes, meetings, special events which used to take place are yet to start. But since it is part of regular activity the authorities are hopeful of starting once the norms are relaxed in the coming months.