The Karnataka government is planning to introduce a night wildlife safari, the first time in the country, at the Bannerghatta national park, in Bangalore.
For this, the state tourism department would invest Rs 178 crore, K Viswanatha Reddy, director, Karnataka Tourism, told mediapersons here on Wednesday.
This apart, the department is planning an eco-educational tourism park for Rs 370 crore at Mangalore and two more eco-resorts in Bidar district and Jog Falls in November this year and May 2011, respectively. It would also extend the Golden Chariot, which is the only luxury train in south India, to Hyderabad and other southern states in Phase III.
Reddy said 23 helipads would come up near all the tourist places in the state. The department will venture into heli tourism and cruise tourism in the near future.
“Currently, Karnataka tourism stands at No. 4 in terms of tourist inflow in India. We plan to be No. 1 by 2011,” Reddy said. The tourist inflow to the state in the first five months in 2009 and 2010 was 16 million and 18.8 million in the domestic segment and 103,000 and 164,000 foreign tourists, respectively.
Jungle and Lodges, a state-owned eco-tourism promoter, recently added two more camps for Nature lovers, to the existing 10. Each camp can house 40 people.
“The government spends Rs 30 crore every year for the last mile connectivity for the tourism sector. In the last India Investors meet, the tourism department registered around Rs 3,000 crore from the investors,” he added.