Karnataka - Mysore   

City witnesses surge in tourism

Tourist hotspot: The Lalitha Mahal Palace is one of the many places tourists visit when they come to Mysore.

MYSORE: The city is witnessing a surge in tourism in the run up to Christmas and New Year as evident by the occupancy rates in most hotels.

Since some hotels are declining new bookings in view of almost 100 per cent occupancy rates for the period of December 24 to January 1, tourists may be forced to explore other options such as private resorts that have mushroomed on the outskirts of Mysore.

“The year has been particularly good for the tourism sector in Mysore. There is a rush for the Christmas and New Year holiday season and accommodation is increasingly hard to come by,” according to N. Jayaram, Assistant Director of Tourism.

This is a view echoed by Mahesh Kamath, General Manager, Pai Vista. He told The Hindu that the number of tourists had been high in December and all rooms were booked for the holiday season.

Mahalingaiah, Managing Director of Skyway International Travels, said that they were running short of vehicles to cater to tourists and had outsourced them to meet the demand. “It is not only hotels in Mysore city but also hotels in Nagarahole, Bandipur, Madikere, B.R. Hills, Bheemeshwari and Kabini that have been booked in advance for the holiday season,” Mr. Mahalingaiah added.

He told The Hindu that Mysore was a preferred destination throughout the year because of the number of options it offered tourists. While it offers one of the world’s best maintained zoos for children and animal lovers, it has Chamundi Hills and Nanjangud for those of a religious inclination, while Srirangapatna and Somnathpur offers something for history buffs while nature lovers can explore Bandipur, Nagarahole and Madikere. It also has the Lalitha Mahal Palace, Krishnaraja Sagar and the Jaganmohan Palace.

Statistics furnished by the Palace Board indicate that at a conservative estimate, more than 2 lakh tourists have visited the city in the first three weeks of December as evident by the number of entrance tickets sold at the palace. A total of 25.16 lakh tourists visited the palace in 2008-09 and nearly 20 lakh tourists have visited the palace from April 2009 to December 20, 2009. Mr. Mahalingaiah pointed out that the resurgence in the tourism sector in Mysore was despite the State Government’s taxation policy which made Karnataka the highest taxed State in the country, the lack of air connectivity to Mysore and poor infrastructure. K.S. Nagapathi, Director, Tourism Development Institute, Mahajana Educational Institution, pointed out that this was only the tip of the iceberg. “Once the airport begins functioning and the doubling of the railway track is completed, the city will be unable to cope with the rush.”

Hence, he said that there was a need to create new facilities.

This view was endorsed by Mr. Jayaram who said the Tourism Department projected a requirement of at least 1,000 rooms to cope with the growth in tourism. .

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