All roads are leading to Mysuru as the City of Palaces is gearing up for the Dasara finale on the day of Vijayadashami on October 5. The city is no exception to traffic congestion as the roads are getting choked and traffic jams have become common with scores of tourists heading to Mysuru to experience Nada Habba.
The steep rise in tourist footfalls has resulted in hotels registering 100 percent occupancy. All kinds of hotels – budget and star – are fully booked till October 5.
“We have no vacant rooms till the end of Dasara season. Another reason for full occupancy is Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra that has entered Mysuru district as the party leaders and followers have booked the rooms,” said Hotel Owners’ Association President C. Narayana Gowda.
Stakeholders of the tourism industry here were demanding for a grand Dasara as a booster dose for tourism which is on the path of recovery after the two waves of COVID-19. The Dasara fete was subdued in the last two years, badly hitting the tourism economy since a large number of families rely fully on the tourism revenue for their livelihood.
Tourists have been making a beeline to Mysuru since Saturday, thanks to the long weekend and the vacation. The schools and colleges are on vacation till October 9. “The last time this kind of rush was seen was in 2019. After a two-year gap, we are witnessing a surge of tourists and Dasara is the biggest strength for turning around the fortune of tourism industry,” a tour operator said.
According to Mr. Narayana Gowda, Mysuru city has 415 hotels, including star hotels and budget hotels, with about 10,500 rooms. Almost all the rooms are either full or booked. We have no vacant rooms. Some rooms were booked for sports persons of Dasara sports. The main reason for thumping footfalls is the grand Dasara, he said.
The rooms in vacant wedding halls have also been taken for the accommodation of the Congress party workers who have arrived here from different places to take part in Bharat Jodo Yatra.
“Since the hotel rooms are full, the rooms at wedding halls are also occupied to accommodate the party workers,” said Mr. Narayanagowda, who is also associated with the marriage halls’ association.
Some hotel representatives said that the rooms were available till September 29 but the bookings went up from September 30 and the rooms started filling up on Saturday.
“It took six hours for us to reach Mysuru from Bengaluru. There was bumper to bumper traffic on the highway. At the ORR junction at Manipal Hospital in Mysuru, we had to wait for 45 minutes to enter the city,” said a couple from Chennai.
