Mysuru Fest Draws Tourists In Droves

EE News Desk Jan 29, 2024

Over the long weekend followed by Republic Day, tourists visited the three-day Mysuru Fest, packed with Chithra Santhe, Food Fest, Flea Market and ‘Sanskrithika Vaibhava’.

The ‘Visit Mysuru’ Instagram page of the tourism department crossed 15 lakh viewers. More than 10,000 people visited the fest per day on all three days, at the Manasagangothri campus, according to M K Savitha, Joint Director, Tourism Department.

Savitha stressed that the tourism department expects to pull more crowds for such tourism events in the coming days. They plan to consult tourism stakeholders and come up with a tourism calendar with a list of events planned every month around the year so that tourists can plan and come to Mysuru in large numbers.

According to T S Subramanya, Deputy Director, Mysuru Palace Board, the Mysuru Palace alone saw 18,037 visitors on 26 January and 22,937 visitors on 27 January.

C Narayana Gowda, Head, Mysuru Hotel Owners' Association said, that there are 10,500 rooms in 425 hotels in Mysuru and there was 100 per cent occupancy from 23 to 31 December. After that the occupancy dropped to 50 per cent during weekdays and 80 to 90 per cent during the weekends.

Due to the long weekend and Mysuru Fest, all the hotel rooms in Mysuru were 100 per cent occupied from Friday to Sunday. More than 50 per cent of the tourists to the city were from other States including Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The Mysuru Fest went beyond promoting local products such as Mysuru silk, Mysuru sandal soap, and Mysuru pak; it also showcased Geographical Indication (GI) products from other regions, including Kantha work items from Shanthinikethan. The event served as a platform for artists like Hemashekar, a two-time national award recipient for Batik work, to display and sell their creations. The festival proved beneficial for women in self-help groups, startups, food vendors and small-scale entrepreneurs, providing them with business opportunities. The inclusion of 'Sanskrithika Vaibhava' at the open-air theatre garnered a positive response.

Gowda added that tourist inflow increased by 10 per cent due to Mysuru Fest. Since it was organised for the first time 90 per cent of the visitors to the festival were locals.

On Sunday too, many people queued up to get their portraits sketched, kids thronged to get tattoos at Chithra Santhe. Hiremagaluru Kannan, Prof M Krishnegowda, Mimicri Dayanand, Indumathi Salimat, Malleshgowda, Nagashri Thyagaraj, Y V Gundu Rao and others presented a humour fest in the evening.

The crowd was enthralled by a live concert by Santhosh Venki, who has sung over 3,000 songs. The Georgian team kept the audience spellbound with their performance as well.