Amba Vilas, the city's important landmark popularly known as the Mysore Palace, has attracted 26 lakh tourists during 2009. With a few more days for 2009-10 to end, the total number of visitors may cross the 27-lakh mark, making the palace one of the country's most-visited tourist destinations.
In fact, the palace drawing 26 lakh tourists itself is a record as it is the highest-ever number recorded till date. Till March 23, 26.4 lakh people visited the palace, which, according to the authorities, is a record.
Perhaps, the record turnout has only authenticated reports of the palace drawing more international tourists after Madame Tussauds, the famous wax museum in London.
Sources in the tourism industry here said that 2010 may herald an upsurge of tourists to the city of palaces like never before going by the trends in arrivals last year.
“Undoubtedly, the tourist arrivals were big. Such a record will boost tourism. Crossing 26-lakh mark is a matter of pride. The palace has been the mascot of tourism in the region, and I am sure that the number may cross the 27-lakh mark by March 31,” P.V. Awaradi, Deputy Director of the Mysore Palace Board, told The Hindu . He said 1.9 lakh tourists visited the palace in February. “If this trend continues till the end of this month, the number will touch the 27-lakh mark,” he added.
In 2006-07, 25.26 lakh tourists visited the palace, while 24,10,054 visited in 2007-08. The number came down slightly in 2007-08. In 2008-09, the number of visitors touched 25.16 lakh and the number in 2009-10 may reach 27 lakh.
It is a fact that the palace is among the must-see places in India for international tourists if the number of such tourists visiting it in February alone is taken into consideration. As many as 10,000 foreign tourists visited the palace in February, which is a big number in recent years, according to Mr. Avaradi.
He said that on an average, 92,000 to one lakh foreign tourists visited the palace yearly. Thanks to travel and tour operators in many countries, the number of foreign tourists was rising because of its aggressive publicity.
“The architecture, majesty, maintenance and illumination are the key features that draw tourists to the palace. Tourism is thriving in the city as the palace leaves visitors spell-bound,” he said.
Importantly, the multilingual audio guide facility in English, Hindi, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese helped to attract foreign tourists. “Tourists from Russia came to me recently and requested to ensure audio guide in their language,” he said.
The Palace Board introduced the audio guide facility in association with Narrowcasters India, a subsidiary of Narrowcaster Australia. Incidentally, the palace was the first tourist destination in South India to be equipped with the audio guide facility, he said.
