The Department of Tourism in Mysore will no longer have to wait for the Bangalore office take decisions on its behalf. It has now been upgraded as a Regional Deputy Directorate.
K S Shivalingappa has been posted as the Regional Deputy Director. Eight districts of Mysore region will come under his jurisdiction.
Upgrading of the tourist office, as part of decentralisation of the department’s working will help it take decisions of eight districts relating to the department in Mysore alone instead of waiting for approval from Bangalore. This will hasten implementation of tourism-related projects as well.
Mysore is witnessing increasing flow of tourists, both domestic and foreign. April-ending from January 2011, it has drawn as many 8,341,257 tourists, including 57,488 foreigners. The rest of 8,283,769 were domestic tourists.
The sacred shrine of Chamundi temple atop the famous Chamundi Hills attracted the maximum number of tourists, over 50 per cent of the tourist flow to eight tourist spots in and around Mysore. Around 4,347,092 tourists and pilgrims visited the hills standing about 1,074 m above the mean sea level, having a host of temples, the chief being Chamundeswari, the tutelary deity of the royal Wadiyars, and the monolithic Nandi, halfway to the hills.
The palace takes the second position. During the January-May months, as many 1,454,807 tourists visited the the royal house of the former Yadu dynasty rulers to see the royal artifacts, paintings and gorgeous halls. They comprised 38,232 foreign tourists and 1,416,575 domestic tourists.
Around 1,227,856 people, majority being domestic tourists (1,227,342) turned up at the Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens, popularly known as Mysore Zoo. The foreign tourists’ number was comparatively small, only 514.
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If Mysore Palace drew the maximum number 38,232 foreigners, the next highest spot they chose to visit was Somanathapur, 35 kms from Mysore, to see the best example of the Hoysala sculptural grandeur in the 13th century Kesava Temple.
Their number stood at 16,017, taking the number of visitors to this small town to 193,720 in the five-month period, which includes 177,703 domestic tourists.
The pilgrim centre of Nanjangud, 23 kms off Mysore, attracted 594,609 pilgrims, while the sand dune town of Talakad saw 255,587 visitors. The Tibetan colony of Bylakuppe drew 158,834 people. According to figures available with the assistant director of Tourism, these places recorded no foreign visitors.
In May alone, 2,965,680 tourists, including 6,305 foreigner visited the eight tourist spots. The pilgrim flow to Chamundi Hills this sacred Ashada month will rise, its Fridays considered auspicious to workship the Goddess. Elaborate arrangements have been made for smooth flow of pilgrims, banning tourist vehicles to the top and providing free bus transportation to the temple.
Tourist vehicles have to be parked at the temporary facility created at the foot of the hills, at Lalitha Mahal helipad.