The Hindu : Sound-and-light show planned at Mysore Palace

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 18, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mysore

Sound-and-light show planned at Mysore Palace

By Our Staff Correspondent

The recently launched horse-drawn carriage service is among the new facilities planned as part of developing Lalitha Mahal Palace hotel into one of the best heritage hotels in the country.

MYSORE, JAN. 17. A sound-and-light show at the Mysore Palace and developing the Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel as the best heritage hotel in the country are among the plans by the Centre to promote tourism in Mysore.

Amitabh Kant, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Tourism, and Chairman and Managing Director, India Tourism Development Corporation, told presspersons that the popular Son et Lumiere (sound-and-light show) would start at the palace in four to five months.

Mr. Kant, who was here on an inspection of the hotels and other outlets of the Tourism Department, said the show had been attracting tourists to heritage sites such as the Red Fort and Khajuraho. The show at the palace would narrate the historical events of the erstwhile princely State of Mysore. He said the hotel, run by the corporation, would be developed and promoted as the best heritage hotel in the country. It would turn out to be better than the heritage hotels in Rajasthan.

Karnataka Darshan: He said the corporation would spend Rs. 10 crore on Karnataka Darshan, a special train covering tourist spots. The Union Minister of State for Railways, Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, recently announced that the train would cover Mysore, Belur, Halebid, Sharavanabelagola, Hampi, Bijapur, and Belgaum in a weeklong trip.

Mr. Kant said the corporation had spent a similar sum on Deccan Odyssey, a special train connecting tourist spots in Maharashtra. The Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, recently flagged off the train in Mumbai. Among the other plans of the Centre for tourism promotion in the State was developing Hampi, the capital of the erstwhile Vijaynagar Empire, into a world-class heritage site. Mr. Kant called upon the State Government and private entrepreneurs to take up promotion of tourism. The official, who is considered to have been instrumental in putting Kerala on the global tourism map with the slogan, "God's own country'', cited the joint efforts by the Centre, the State Government, and private entrepreneurs in promotion of tourism in that State. Private initiative, as in Kerala, was crucial to push forward the Government's tourism schemes. Mysore, he said, had a better potential than Kerala in tourism. "Be it heritage, wildlife, eco-tourism, or adventure tourism, Mysore has it all,'' he said. Public and private initiative could give tourism in Mysore a boost.

Under a new policy, the Centre was giving importance to air-connectivity to tourist spots. "Chartering of flights for tourists from abroad is also being thought of,'' Mr. Kant said. In this context, he said, the Mandakalli airstrip here would be developed into an airport soon. The State was on the world map as a business destination, thanks to the information technology industry. The State Government should develop tourism in the State by enabling business to combine with leisure. He suggested that the State's Tourism Department come forward with tourism schemes.

He said the tourism mantra for the State should be converting the business traveller into a leisure traveller as the State had many heritage sites such as Hampi, Aihole, and Badami. The country figured among the top 10 tourist destinations in the world, according to the journal, Condenast Traveller. A survey by Lonely Planet put India among the top five tourist destinations in Asia.

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