Lighthouses as Hot Tourism Destinations

If you are an ardent Enid Blyton fan, you would have loved the stories featuring mysterious lighthouses by the sea, places with ships and pirates in their past. You will be happy to know that the many lighthouses that dot the Indian coast will soon be converted into tourist spots. 

The Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships will identify the most feasible projects out of a total 194 sites in the country. These are all at least a century old, and are going to be converted into tourist spots with museums and gardens.

Following a meeting with top officials on June 7, Shipping Minister Mansukh Mandaviya rolled out plans to build museums to display lighthouse equipment, and childrens&rsquo parks, aquariums and gardens.

In the first phase around 70-80 lighthouses will be converted. Depending upon the land-holding by these lighthouses, anything between Rs 15-20 crore would be spent on each of the lighthouse.

&ldquoThe museums will depict the history of the lighthouse as well as how the source of illumination changed over the years from wood, coal and oil lamps to electric lighting,&rdquo said a shipping ministry official.

The lighthouses have been instrumental in not only navigation but also strategic planning of several historic events in history. They can also prove to be a good source of revenue because of their rather stunning locations.