Mysuru: The recent floods in Kerala and Kodagu had become a cause of worry for the city’s businessmen, especially the hoteliers and travels owners/agents. But since the last couple of days, the business has started gaining momentum. During the last three days of Dasara, including on Vijayadashami Day, nearly 50 percent bookings were seen in most of the lodges. For Dasara, majority of the domestic tourists come from Kerala besides Tamil Nadu.
The recent flood in most parts of Kerala had resulted in a drop in tourist visits to Mysuru. The hotel owners were apprehensive that the tourist inflow will not be the same like last year though the scale of celebrations has not been cut down due to Kerala or Kodagu floods. But to the businessmen’s surprise, the tourists have started to do bookings which is really encouraging.
Speaking to News Karnataka, Narayana Gowda, President, Hotel Owners Association, Mysuru said, “Usually the booking for Dasara used to start a month before the commencement of the festivity but this year due to recent floods in Kerala and Kodagu, the tourist inflow had gone down drastically in Mysuru, initially. However, now it is picking up gradually. Last year, one month prior to Dasara we had more than 50 percent bookings but this year it started to pick up and as on today there are nearly 20 to 25 percent bookings in most of the lodges. Tourists from Kerala and Tamil Nadu come in large numbers to Mysuru. Tourists who usually come to Mysuru, after visiting all the prime spots, try to stay in Kerala. Now due to the disaster in the neighbouring state, several tourists have decided to stay in Mysuru. Especially, during the last three days, we have had nearly 50 percent bookings in most of the hotels across the city.” Across Mysuru city, there are nearly 750 hotels which include 300 lodges with an average of 7500 rooms.
Prashanth, President, Mysuru Travels Agents Association said, “We hope the tourist inflow increases further in the days to come. People from North Indian will not come just to see Mysuru. They plan their tour in such a way that after visiting Mysuru they proceed to Kerala, Kodagu and other surrounding places. This time around this crowd might be reluctant to plan their trip likewise since Kerala is still recovering. Hence we cannot expect more people from North India. However, there is a slight improvement in business. There is a lot of demand for advance bookings and enquiries for gold card. Apart from this, due to good lighting arraignment this year, the travel agents from Bengaluru are also doing advance bookings for open jeeps.
H P Janardhan, Deputy Director, Tourism Department, Mysuru said, “For Dasara, people will definitely come in large numbers. The tourists to Kerala may opt to stay in Mysuru which in turn will really boost tourism here during Dasara celebrations from October 10 to 19.”
‘Lot of activities but no publicity’
Everyday, as a part of Dasara celebrations, there are a lot of activities going on. However these activities are not reaching public due to lack of publicity from the authorities. “Lot of preparations and activities are happening during this Dasara. However, we are failing in doing proper marketing. If we don’t do proper marketing we can’t expect more tourists. We should showcase all the activities with international standard videos from day 1 of dasara to its last day, i.e, Vijayadashami. We should circulate this on social media so that people from not only across the country but also abroad can come to know about our grand Dasara”, added Prashanth who was also instrumental in coming up with various tourism promotion programmes.
