Kannur, not Mysuru, may be new transit to hill stations

A file photo of Raja’s Seat in Madikeri. Madikeri is about five hours by road from Mysuru, but just over one hour from Kannur.

Stakeholders in the Mysuru tourism industry believe that some percentage of tourists may circumvent Mysuru and visit Kodagu in Karnataka, Wayanad in Kerala, and Ooty in Tamil Nadu — three of the main hill stations in South India — using an alternative route soon, with the Kannur International Airport, Kerala’s second greenfield airport, coming up under public-private partnership.

Kannur is around 80 km from Madikeri, which is a popular hill station with ample home stays for tourists to unwind.

According to the stakeholders, the road connectivity from Kannur is good and this may boost tourist arrivals to the ‘Land of Coffee’.

“The itinerary of tourists may change to some extent once the airport becomes operational. Mysuru may not be the base point for tourists as it was now for visiting Madikeri, Wayanad or Ooty. Tourists will get a new travelling route — fly to Kannur, travel by road to Madikeri, Wayanad and Ooty (via Gudulur),” says B.S. Prashanth, president of the Mysuru Travel Mart.

Mysuru has many tourist attractions but the city still needs something new that can draw tourists in all seasons and encourage them stay for a couple of days. Evenings must have some events for keeping tourists busy and entertained, he said.

Mr. Prashanth, who is part of a group constituted by tourism stakeholders for preparing a vision document for Mysuru, told

The Hindu that tourist footfall has dropped by over 40% from last year. The tourism industry, especially the hospitality sector, is bearing the brunt with low occupancy rates like never before.

Aggressive promotion

Stakeholders suggest the hard sell of Mysuru in a new way, adding entertainment and cultural shows and aggressively promoting them in major airports.

Mysuru is a passage for many visiting Madikeri, Ooty and Wayanad. But now tourists from the northern or western parts of the country may as well fly to Kannur instead of Bengaluru, bypassing Mysuru, for visiting these places. While the road journey from Mysuru to Madikeri takes about five hours, that from Kannur to Kodagu takes about an hour, Mr. Prashanth said.

Therefore, there is an urgent need to bring in more attractions such as 3-D projection mapping (a popular attraction in many foreign cities) that could pull tourists to the city, stakeholders said.

They also are hoping for quick resumption of commercial flight operations from Mysuru airport, which has been lying inactive for over a year.

Mysuru’s wish list

The Karnataka Pradesh Hotels and Restaurants Association (KPHRA) has sought improvement of existing tourist destinations, particularly Brindavan Gardens at the Krishnaraja Sagar dam site near Mysuru.

The association, led by its president M. Rajendra, presented its wish list to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah recently for announcement in the forthcoming State Budget. It has sought early renovation of Brindavan Gardens with a cable car facility for making the spot even more attractive.

Mr. Rajendra urged the CM to hasten tourism development projects in Mysuru, some of which had been proposed in last year’s budget. He also sought cut in entry tax for tourist vehicles in order to boost tourist footfall.