Special Correspondent
CHENNAI: Udhagamandalam is gearing for Tea and Tourism Festival 2007 which will be inaugurated on February 3 by N. Suresh Rajan, the Minister for Tourism, at the open air stadium near the Botanical Garden.
The festival is being organised by the district administration, and participants include the Nilgiri Hoteliers and Restaurant Owners Association, Tea Board, Tamil Nadu Tea Plantation Corporation, The Industrial Co-operative Tea Factories, The United Planters Association of Southern India and the Small Tea Growers Association, a press release here says. Visitors can have a taste of different flavours of Nilgiri tea at stalls set up for the purpose and one lakh tea sachets will be distributed free of cost to tourists. Entertainment and cultural programmes and a tour on an open-air bus also await the tourists.
Tourists can also enjoy special trips on the mountain train from Udhagamandalam to Runnymede station near Coonoor, during which tribals in traditional attire will serve tea to tourists, the release says.
