Notwithstanding the State government’s decision to celebrate Dasara in a simple manner, the iconic Mysuru palace drew more visitors during the Dasara this year compared to last year.
More than 82,000 tourists visited the palace during the Dasara 2015, around 12,000 more than the previous year. The number of foreigners visiting the palace too went up from 858 during Dasara 2014 to 1,168 this year, according to statistics made available by the Mysuru Palace Board.
Dasara was celebrated for 10 days from September 25 to October 4 in 2014, while the festivities went on for 11 days this year, beginning October 13 and ending on October 23.
With entry barred for the public on Ayudha Puja and Vijayadashami, the palace was open to tourists for eight days of Dasara 2014 against the nine days during Dasara 2015. That said, the average number of visitors were more this year.
The tourists visiting Mysuru this Dasara had fewer options with the government cancelling Yuva Dasara, food festival, adventure sports, etc., said Deputy Director of Mysuru Palace Board T.S. Subramanya.
“So, most of them preferred to visit the palace and stay on to watch the cultural programmes in the premises later in the evening,” he added.
Zoo sees dip in numbers
However, the number of visitors to Mysuru zoo saw a dip this year. The number of visitors dipped from 1.33 lakh during Dasara 2014 to 1.25 lakh this year, a decline of about 8,000 visitors.
Gate collections also came down from 76.77 lakh to 69.11 lakh. However, the dip in visitors was more than made up when the zoo was visited by almost 37,000 people on Saturday, a day after Dasara concluded. “With almost 37,000 visitors on a single day, it was an all-time record for Mysuru zoo,” zoo executive director Venkateshan said.
