Hoteliers, travel operators, artistes, yoga centres, dance schools and others eking out a living from tourism have joined hands to form Mysore Tourism Forum (MTF).
President of Mysore Hoteliers Association M Rajendra and president of Mysore Travel Agents Association (MTAA) B S Prashanth have been nominated as president and vice-president respectively of the forum.
In its maiden meeting on Wednesday on the eve of World Tourism Day, Rajendra brought a few burning issues with12 demands of the tourism industry to the notice of tourism minister Anand Singh.
Reminding the minister about the need to waive off entry tax for tourists of other States, Rajendra said that the steep hike in the tax from Rs 5,500 four years ago to Rs 16,000 now, has hindered the flow of tourists. According to statistics available, tourists numbers hover between 22 lakh and 24 lakh. When the entry tax was lifted for a period of one month in view of Dasara, there was a flood of tourists to the city.
Rajendra promised that, if the similar measure was taken on a permanent scale, the number of tourists will burgeon to 40 lakh. In addition to this, the tax on domestic tourists who form the chunk up to 80 per cent should also be lifted. If tourism department takes steps to compensate the loss suffered by regional transport offices (RTO), it could be a reality, Rajendra said.
Elaborating on giving impetus to the development of existing tourist places and also new places to woo tourists, Rajendra said ‘the situation is such that tourists who visit the city once, never return for a second time’. He attributed it to the standard tendency among the tourists that the city of Mysore has same old attractions (developed by erstwhile rulers of Mysore) with nothing new to explore.
Prominent among other demands included setting up decision making office of tourism department in Mysore region, identifying Mysore, Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Kodagu and Hassan as a circuit and releasing Rs 100 crore for its development, creating a cultural forum and sub-contract of sound and light show at Palace.
The Karnataka tourism minister Anand Singh admitted that even some of the tourist hubs in the state lack basic facilities.
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