Appoint special officer to promote tourism in DK

Bellevision Media Network

• Participants flay dept at interaction on ‘future of coastal tourism’

 

Mangalore, 24 September 2011: Seeing the present state of tourism in coastal Karnataka, those involved in the tourism sector have demanded that the government to appoint a special officer of IAS cadre to develop the tourism sector and also fix an annual target for tourism department to boost tourism industry in coastal region.

 

 

The suggestions were made by the participants during an interactive programme on ‘Future of coastal tourism’ organised by the department of tourism here on Saturday.

 

Expressing contempt over the way the department of tourism has been functioning in the district, many participants said that there have been blogs and websites which have given a very bad picture of Mangalore on tourism map because of the tourists’ bitter experiences here.

 

Participant Arvind Prabhu stressed on proper branding of the district just like Mysore and Kerala.  Another participant Rohit Rao said that ‘Lonely Planet’ had used a statement which reads: ‘Travellers can easily pass off Mangalore”. Sumeeth Rao said that every citizen wonders as to why Goa ticks and Mangalore does not. “The fact is that here people do not want to mind their own business but want to poke nose into others’ affair.

 

A boy and a girl cannot walk together in a beach in Mangalore because of moral policing. Let there be responsible policing and not moral policing,” he said.

 

Marine Biologist Mahesh Raj suggested that marine aquariums should be opened in the coast as this will attract more tourists from other states.

 

He said that though he had submitted a detailed proposal to set up aquariums in beaches in Coastal Karnataka to the tourism department through deputy commissioner, it has not been cleared by the government yet.

 

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) Deputy General Manager (corporate communications) Lekshmi Kumaran pointed out that variety of tourism projects can be introduced in the region on the lines of Kerala.

 

“The district has immense potential for health, pilgrimage, beach and other type of tourisms,” she said.

 

Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation Managing Director K Sundar Naik presided while Panambur Beach Tourism Development Project Chief Executive Officer Yathish Baikampady was present.