Minister for Tourism, Ecology and Environment C.P. Yogeshwar on Tuesday said heli tourism in the State would be launched at four tourist destinations, including Mysuru. The initiative will take off soon.
He told reporters here that he had talks with officials on introducing the concept and added that he would separately discuss the initiative with the officials of Mysuru as he was touring the district.
On the industry status to the hospitality sector, he said the star hotels of Mysuru would be given the industry tag to overcome the crisis they suffered over the COVID-19 pandemic.
Admitting that the tourism industry had been affected by the pandemic, he said the pandemic has taken down tourists’ footfall to a large extent in the State. Talks are on to introduce the Kerala model of road tax aiming at tourism promotion.
The Minister said he had met Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and urged him to announce a special package for the tourism sector in the ensuing budget and expressed confidence of developing the industry post-pandemic. Being a prominent tourist destination, Mysuru will get priority for tourism development.
On the controversial Disneyland project near the KRS dam site, he said the pros and cons of the project would be discussed before taking a final call.
The project was conceptualised in the previous JD(S)-Congress coalition government and the concept had come under criticism with many opposing the project at the dam site.
Replying to the war of words between him and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, he said the former Chief Minister spoke lightly about him and he replied to the comments. “It is not good to make personal attacks in politics which Mr. Kumaraswamy did with me. I tried not to react but I finally lost my patience and had to reply to him accordingly.”
Earlier, the Minister visited the BJP party office and also met Chamarajnagar MP V. Srinivas Prasad at his residence.
‘Ready to meet Vishwanath’
Mr. Yogeshwara said he has no differences with H. Vishwanath, MLC, who had attacked him and questioned his entry into the Cabinet. “He is a senior leader. Allegations and counter-allegations happen in the public life and I have no qualms in meeting him,” he told reporters, after meeting Mr. Prasad.
‘Ambari’ flagged off
Five open-roof double-decker buses called ‘Ambari’ of the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation were flagged off here on Tuesday by Mr. Yogeshwar and KSTDC chairperson and actor Shruthi at Radisson Blu.
After the launch, the Minister, Ms. Shruthi and others went on a ride sitting on the roof-top of the bus.
Each bus will be operated once in 30 minutes from Hotel Mayura KSTDC on JLB Road. The ticket cost per person is ₹250. It is operated on a designated route. All five buses did a dry run on the route before their launch.
