BENGALURU: After being confined to homes due to the Covid-19 lockdown and travel restrictions for close to two years, there is a sudden spurt in tourism. The fall in coronavirus cases, coupled with long weekends and the summer vacation, is leading to a renewed interest in travel. The sector had been one of the worst-hit due to the pandemic.
In fact, there is a surge in ‘revenge tourism’, a term coined for those who travel as a challenge to the pandemic. Tourist destinations are seeing a peak with people preferring eco destinations, to stay close
to nature.
All 26 properties of Jungle Lodges and Resorts of the State tourism department are seeing huge occupancy since last month, M Ravi, Vice-President of Karnataka Tourism Forum said. “Tourism has resumed and is near normal. In fact, tourist destinations are doing much better than during the pre-pandemic period.
Hotels in Coorg, Kabini, Sakleshpur, Chikkamagaluru, Mysuru and even beach resorts in Udupi and Karwar are seeing 100 per cent occupancy since Thursday. At least 30 per cent of these tourists are from other states, including Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and even North India. In fact, the tourist flow picked up from February, after the third wave,” he said.
Mysuru Hotel Owners’ Association president C Narayangowda said that hotel rooms in Mysuru too are witnessing 100 per cent occupancy, and at least 60 per cent of tourists to Mysuru are from other states.
According to JLR MD Manoj Kumar, during this month alone, the top five JLR properties in the state are seeing high occupancy. He added that even when during the pandemic, the JLR properties in the state had good occupancy and in 2021, the average occupancy in JLR doubled compared to 2020, taking the earnings to Rs 64,36 crore.