MYSURU: Over two lakh people visited Mysuru’s famous Amba Vilas Palace during the recent 10-day Dasara festivities. A similar number of people also visted the city’s Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens. According to information from the Palace Board, from September 26 to October 8, 2.07 lakh people visited the palace, including 300-odd foreigners and over 6,000 students.
The response has come as a great sigh of relief to stakeholders of the tourism sector who were affected owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. The monthly tourist footfall was not even crossing the 2 lakh-mark over the past two to three years. “We are glad to see that during the 10-day Dasara festivities, more than 2 lakh people visited the palace,” said a tourist guide.
The response was similar in the zoo as it saw a total revenue of over Rs 2.6 crore through ticket collection during Dasara festivities. “More than 2 lakh people visited the zoo and even the nearby Karanji lake helped us earn a revenue of Rs 2.6 crore,” said Shivakumar, chairman of Zoo Authority of
Karnataka. He said that theresponse has been good even during the weekends which is a sign of the tourism industry getting back on track after being severely hit due to the pandemic.