Chennai

Chennai formerly referred to as Madras, the official name until 1996, is that the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, it’s one among the most important cultural, economic and academic centres of south India. According to the 2011 Indian census, it’s the sixth-most populous city and fourth-most populous urban agglomeration in India. The city alongside the adjoining regions constitutes the Chennai Metropolitan Area, which is that the 36th-largest populated area by population within the world. The traditional and de facto gateway of South India, Chennai is among the most-visited Indian cities by foreign tourists. It was ranked the 43rd-most visited city within the world for the year 2015. The Quality of Living Survey rated Chennai because the safest city in India. Chennai attracts 45 percent of health tourists visiting India, and 30 to 40 percent of domestic health tourists. As such, it is termed “India’s health capital”. Chennai has the fifth-largest urban economy of India.

With temples, beaches and centres of historical and cultural significance, including the UNESCO Heritage Site of Mahabalipuram, Chennai is one among the most-visited cities in India. The city is the gateway to the southern a part of India with tourists landing within the city then visiting the remainder of the region. Chennai was the most-visited Indian city by foreign tourists in 2009 and issued the third-highest number of visas on arrival in 2014. In 2011, Chennai was ranked the 41st most visited city, with 3,174,500 tourists, a 14-percent increase from 2010. About 830,620 domestic tourists arrived in Chennai in March 2011. Chennai’s leading tourist countries-of-origin are Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, the U.K, France and therefore the U.S.A. In 2015, the city received 4,243,700 foreign tourists, making it the third-most-visited city in India after Delhi and Mumbai and 43rd-most visited city in the world by foreign tourists. As of 2012, the town had 21 luxury hotels within the five-star category, with over 4,500 rooms within the inventory. The collective luxury room inventory across four and five-star categories as of 2018 is around 7,000. About 85 percent of the room demand in Chennai comes from business travelers

The zoo, beaches and wildlife parks form the primary recreation areas of the city. Chennai has a 19+ km coastline. Marina Beach spans 6 km (3.7 mi) between the deltas of Cooum and Adyar, and is that the second-longest urban beach within the world. Elliot’s Beach lies south of the Adyar delta. Covelong Beach lies along the Coromandal Coast. Madras Crocodile Bank Trust may be a reptile zoo located 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of the town covering a neighborhood of 8.5 acres (3.4 ha) and had over 450,000 visitors in 2007. The center has one of the world’s largest collections of reptiles and has bred 14 of the 23 existing species of crocodiles and alligators. The Arignar Anna Zoological Park, one of the largest zoological parks in the world, annually attracts nearly 2 million visitors. The city boasts two popular beaches, the Marina and Elliot’s. Guindy Park, a protected area of Tamil Nadu, features a children’s park and a snake park, which gained statutory recognition as a medium zoo from the Central Zoo Authority of India in 1995. Chennai is one of the few cities in the world to accommodate a national park, the Guindy National Park, within its limits. An estimated 4.5 percent of the city’s area is under green cover. This enables birding.