Karnataka - Mysore   

Tourism industry favours expansion of Mysore airport

— Photo: M.A. Sriram

WATCH TOWER: The Air Traffic Control Tower of Mysore Airport under construction in Mysore.

MYSORE: Mysore airport’s financial viability has often been questioned, but if you go by the record of air passenger traffic from the city, it seems a credible option.

Stakeholders in the tourism industry said that although there was an economic downturn, it should not warrant a freeze on the second stage of the modernisation plan of Mysore airport.

Sources in the travel industry said that although there was no authentic data on air traffic, the number of tickets sold over the counter by travel agents was a healthy figure.

It is estimated that there were at least 1,00,000 passengers making use of the Mysore airport annually.

This included group bookings for holiday packages offered by tour operators but did not include online tickets purchased by individual travellers that should be considered to the overall tally.

The number of in-bound international passengers to Mysore was likely to grow in view of the city’s growing tourism potential. Mysore received 2.6 million tourists last year, and even if 2 per cent of them used air services, it would add 50,000 passengers to the existing traffic.

This only added strength to the debate on the viability of the expansion of the city airport, said the stakeholders.

With the Government planning an international university in the city for which 700 acres of land had been acquired, Mysore was poised to emerge as a major educational and knowledge hub, which was bound to draw students and academics from throughout the country.

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