Tourism sector sees poor footfall

The two-day KSRTC strike, which crippled public transport system across the State, had a cascading impact on the tourism sector in Mysuru. Though June to August is reckoned to be a lean season, the hospitality sector would see an occupancy rate of nearly 40 per cent during weekdays which would go up to 70 per cent during weekends.

The strike was called off on Wednesday.

However, the build-up to the strike since the last few days and disruption of services from Monday to Wednesday took its toll.

The number of tourists to the Mysuru Palace, a key attraction for first-time visitors to the city, dropped from 13,565 on Sunday to 5,272 on Monday, the first day of the strike.

The number of visitors on Tuesday saw a further drop with 5,201 tourists visiting the palace and the figures for Wednesday is expected to be far lower.

Mysuru zoo, another major attraction, saw 8,700 visitors on Sunday. But it dropped to around 2,600 visitors on Monday. Executive Director Kamala Karikalan said that it is normal to have about 4,000 to 4,500 visitors during weekdays in the current lean season. But Monday’s figure was a new low due to the strike, she added.

It is the domestic tourists from across India which fuel the travel and the hospitality sector in Mysuru and this includes tourists from different parts of Karnataka. Hence the lack of public transport system had a direct and a negative impact on the tourism sector, said Narayan Gowda, president, Hotel Owners’ Association.

Representing stakeholders in the hospitality sector he said that the occupancy rates in most hotels are down by 20 per cent against a normal of at least 40 per cent occupancy rates.

However, the drop in occupancy rates was mainly felt by the budget hotels whose customers generally tend to patronise public transport system for their tours.

But the strike had no impact on the occupancy rates in the hotels catering to higher income segment as their clients tend to have personal mode of transportation.

Stakeholders in the tourism sector in the region are also apprehensive that the cascading impact of the KSRTC strike (now withdrawn), a possibility of another bandh over the Mahadayi issue, and the fear of deficit rainfall in the Cauvery catchment area this year, could have a direct bearing on the tourism sector this year again.

A drought last year led to curtailment in the grandeur of Dasara and the hospitality sector was the first to take a hit and is yet to come out of it.