The critics of Statue of Unity got a befitting reply from people of the country. The 182 meters tall, marvelous structure received 1.28 lakh tourists in first 11 days of opening. In last weekend, the total number of visitors exceeded 50,000 with more than 27,000 on Saturday and 24,000 on Sunday. The average number of visitors per day for first eleven days to the Statue of Unity, is more than the number of visitors to famous Statue of Liberty. The Statue of liberty got 44 lakh visitors in 2017 which translates around 12,000 visitors per day while the Statue of Unity gets around 13,000 visitors on average per day.
The Statue of Unity made its place in top 10 most visited monuments. The statue got 75,000 visitors in first five days which translates to 15,000 visitors per day. This is more than the number of visitors that the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and World War II memorial got in the year of 2017. Both war memorials are located in Washington D.C., capital of United States and both epitomize war and destruction, while the India structure symbolizes unity and peace. The Statue of liberty, located in New York City, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world got less number of visitors than the Sardar Patel Statue.
The story does not end here, the beautiful structure in the great city of London, Tower of London which has symbolized the power and global stature of the city, got around 28 lakh visitors in the year of 2017, which translates to just 7,800 visitors per day. A statue located in an obscure location in Narmada district, 100 km from nearest major city Vadodara has surpassed the monuments located in global cities like New York, Washington D.C., and London. “There was a huge rush of people from the state and those from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra,” said PC Vyas, chief engineer, Sardar Sarovar Nigam Limited.
If the number of visitors grow at this pace, the Statue of Unity will soon surpass Eiffel Tower which got around 19,000 visitors per day. Currently it is the most visited monument in India and third most visited monument in the World after Forbidden City of Beijing and Grand Palace of Bangkok. The most interesting thing about the Statue Of Unity, is that it is getting so many visitors, despite it not being located in any major or even near any major city. Gujarat registered an exponential growth in tourism since the unveiling of the marvelous structure, the site brought good number of tourists from surrounding states as well as from abroad. “Gujarat has registered 17 per cent year-on growth in tourism with a total 5.2 crore tourists visiting the state in 2017. The Statue of Unity will help in achieving considerable growth in arrival of tourists to Gujarat,” said S J Haider, principal secretary (Tourism). “The number of tourists kept on increasing since November 1. The government is ready to welcome any number of tourists at the site” he added. The growth in number of tourists is a reply to critics who called the statue a waste of public money and argued that the money should have been spent on welfare rather than the statue.