Bengaluru: The tourism industry in the state which hunkered down during the patchy monsoons in the last two months hoping for better numbers, is now seeing something of a boom. Tourists from Bengaluru have once again stated heading to the state's wonderful retreats up in the hills, to the coffee plantations in Chikkamagaluru and Coorg as yet another long weekend kicks in.
Holiday-makers are checking beach properties along the coastal belt of the state besides home-stays and jungle guest houses in Mysuru and Kodagu districts. Tour operators point out that during monsoons, tourism in state usually picks up, but scanty rainfall this year has deterred tourists from going to destinations that promise monsoon retreats.
Homestays in Coorg and Chikkamagaluru have got large scale bookings for the first week of October, where besides the long weekend (October 2nd, 3rd and 4th) several schools will also announce holidays for the Dasara festival. Tour operators say beach properties in Karwar and Dakshina Kannada districts have bookings up to the middle of October.
“Famous waterfalls in the state such as Jog, Dhabbe, Unchalli and Irappu have not been attracting any tourists this season. The home stays in Coorg and Chikkamagaluru which get weekend crowd during monsoon too were registering lesser tourists till the last weekend. Now that we have consecutive long weekends there have been queries and bookings have also increased in the last few days,” said a tour operator from Madikeri.
The tour operators also point out that the government has failed to bring in uniformity among the home stays in Karnataka, which then sees tourists head to Tamil Nadu and Kerala. “There have been bookings from Bengaluru visitors at hotels in Ooty and Kodaikanal for the next weekends. These destinations offer tourists value for money unlike some places in Karnataka which are now charging exorbitantly. Some of the home stays in Coorg are charging higher tariff than the resorts in many places. For a family of four it will be not possible to spend close to Rs 20,000 per visit within Karnataka, hence many prefer travelling longer distances to more affordable resorts,” said a tourism expert.
Officials at the Tourism Department are hopeful that by Dasara festival season the tourist crowd in the state, especially in southern belt of Mysore and Coorg will pick up. “During Dasara we receive large numbers of foreign tourists and this year too there have been bookings at Mysore. During Dasara, tourists from other parts of the country too land in Mysore and explore surroundings areas such as Bandipur and Nagarahole forests,” the official said.
