It’s been an amazing year for tourism in Mysuru as sites in and around the city witnessed highest footfalls, especially towards the end of 2023. Stakeholders claim that the tourism sector appears to have recovered from the impact of the Covid pandemic.
Destinations like the Mysuru zoo, which is in the must-see list of visitors, saw a footfall of 2.28 lakh in over a week’s time.
On Christmas eve, the zoo attracted 40,761 visitors – perhaps, the highest in recent years. This is, perhaps, the biggest recovery for the sector post-pandemic.
Between December 23 and 30, 2,28,314 tourists visited the zoo. On the day of Christmas, the zoo attracted 35,344 footfalls. The footfalls on other days were — 25,860 on December 23, 14,476 on December 26, 28,425 on December 27, 29,906 on December 28, 26,450 on December 29, and 27,092 on December 30.
The Mysuru palace, which continues to be at the centre of tourism in Mysuru, has been the most-visited destination in the city, and it attracted large crowds during the year-end. The annual winter flower show organised on the palace premises in December-end gave a big boost to tourism as people thronged the venue. The palace is among the country’s most-visited tourist destinations, and has been consistently drawing tourists. International tourists, especially, visit Mysuru to see the palace.
The hospitality sector is elated as hotels saw 100% occupancy during the year-end. Between Christmas and new year, nearly 10,500 rooms had been booked. Mysuru has about 425 hotels ranging from standard budget category to those in the luxury segment.
Dasara 2023 was a grand success as lakhs of tourists visited Mysuru to witness the celebrations. Tourism is largely linked to Dasara as far as Mysuru is concerned. Stakeholders have been demanding an independent authority to plan, organise and manage the celebrations.
To give a brand identity for Mysuru, the district administration has launched a logo and mascot. Experts in the industry feel that the step is expected to give a fillip to the tourism sector in the long run.
The logo is accompanied by the tagline ‘Our Heritage Your Destination’ and will be used in all promotional activities pertaining to Mysuru tourism. A mascot called Gajju, which features an elephant with Mysuru peta (turban) and clad in panche (dhoti), has been created to portray and connect to the city.
After launching the new logo, the district administration of Mysuru and the Tourism Department will be organising Brand Mysuru Fest in January 2024. This is the first such event organised to promote and enhance the brand identity of Mysuru, which has the distinction of being one of the country’s preferred tourist destinations.
