Copyright thehindu
World Tourism Day was celebrated in Mysuru on Saturday with stakeholders calling for greater promotion of the city as a destination for all seasons. It was jointly celebrated by hotel owners’ association, travel service providers and other stakeholders. Over 500 tourists who visited the Mysuru palace in the morning were greeted with garlands and sweets as a welcome gesture. There was also a procession which was inaugurated by Deputy Commissioner G. Lakshmikanth Reddy and MLA for Narasimharaja Tanveer Sait. The procession commenced from the palace premises and passed through the K.R. Circle, along the Sayyaji Rao Road, and was accompanied by a few cultural and folk troupes. Students from the Mahajana College, Vidyavardhaka College, and St. Philomena’s College took part in the event. Prashanth of Safe Wheels, which provides logistic services to tourists, said that there was a steady flow of tourists for Dasara but the hotel rooms tend to be full only during the last four days of the festival. He called for greater publicity for the festival so as to generate higher footfall of foreign tourists which were currently negligible. Mysuru tourism was largely fueled by domestic tourists but bulk of visitors from Bengaluru tend to do follow the ‘same-day return’ policy as one can easily travel from Mysuru to Bengaluru in less than two hours at night. The city has augmented the accommodation availability by adding over 800 new rooms – in addition to about 8,000 rooms already in place – as many new hotels have come up. Yet, people prefer to return to Bengaluru the same day and is an area of concern for the stakeholders in the hospitality sector. Tourism is one of the major economic drivers of Mysuru, which receives nearly 3.5 million visitors each year, including those visiting nearby attractions. The sector is a source of direct employment to nearly 80,000 people in addition to substantial jobs created in the ancillary sectors. Hence, the stakeholders have called for greater promotion of Mysuru in international tourism and travel marts as a destination for all seasons. There are also concerns that the city’s tourism potential may have reached its peak and any further expansion could add to the pressure on the creaking infrastructure which needs to be ramped up.
