‘Mangaluru has the Potential to become a Top Tourism Hub’- DC Senthil at KITE ‘Connect’ Meet
‘Mangaluru has the Potential to become a Top Tourism Hub’- Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil at the Karnataka International Travel Expo 2019 (KITE ) ‘Connect’ Meet held at Hotel Ocean Pearl, Mangaluru. Karnataka International Travel Expo 2019 will be held at The Lalit Ashok Hotel, Kumarakrupa Road in Bengaluru from 25-27 August 2019, hosted by Karnataka Tourism, Govt of Karnataka and Karnataka Tourism Society
Mangaluru :The Sate of Karnataka over the years has contributed towards being a large part of the India’s ever-growing tourism arrival figures, both from outside India as well as being a destination to be among India’s biggest domestic travel segment. The forthcoming edition of ‘Karnataka International Travel Expo (KITE) 2019’ is set on a B2B platform with over 400 Hosted Buyers from over 25 Countries exploring business opportunities for discerning travel and tourism products, will make the event one of the most sought-after travel events in the Country. KITE 2019 will be at The Lalit Ashok Hotel, Kumarakrupa Road in Bengaluru from 25-27 August 2019, hosted by Karnataka Tourism, Govt of Karnataka and Karnataka Tourism Society.
Speaking during the interaction with local travel agents, entrepreneurs, builders/promoters and other like minded people of Mangaluru and Udupi at the meet named ‘CONNECT’, Dr S Naveen Kumar- KAS, the Joint Commissioner, Dept of Tourism-Govt of Karnataka said, “KITE recognizes that networking is essential for the travel industry and offers unrivalled opportunities for buyers and exhibitors to network outside of the pre-scheduled appointment programme. With 400 Hosted delegates from nearly 25 countries, KITE will be the biggest Hosted Buyer Travel Event in India. KITE is the number one exhibition in terms of -Exhibition Space, Professional Interest, International Recognition, and Market Reach”.
“Exhibiting at the KITE will be an opportunity to- Find new partners and clients among visitors representing destination management companies, travel agents and tour operators, MICE Specialists and other industry professionals India and all over India; Present your product to a global audience; Increase brand Awareness; and Conduct business, negotiate and sign contracts with trade partners and influential industry associates, travel agents and key associations” added Dr Kumar.
Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil who was the Chief Guest for the ‘Connect’ meet, admitting the district administration’s failure to promote tourism in a district rich with natural resources, said , “Cost-intensive projects take time and hence the administration would take up small, impacting projects. We intend to promote two corridor — Tannirbhavi and Netravati riverfront — projects in the initial stages. The River Festival on the Phalguni (Gurupura) off Tannirbhavi was a success. The road from Kulur till Bengre would sport a new look with various tourist attractions. The problem is that the administration is not for complete commercialization of places of tourist interest to avoid their being away from local population. Instead, it believed in developing both tourism and the city as an inherent part of landscape”.
“Mangaluru has all the sources but still to take the baby steps. It’s sad to note that this City has not attributed towards tourism. We need to improve industrialization, but we need to learn from bigger cities. We need to improve the basic facilities that is lacking very much, even before we stress on tourism implementation. Tourism works like eco-system-we don’t have to showcase our business, instead showcase that Dakshina Kannada is a tourism place, and for that we need work hard. DK and Mangaluru has the potential to become the top tourism destinations. We don’t any more star hotels or big parks, but we nbeed to improve the existing natural parks. Mangaluru had hosted many tourism activities, but we still need to improve them. This the right time to develop DK/Mangaluru and make them the world-class tourism destinations. Civil society should demand its rights and pressurize the administration to have adequate facilities” added Senthil.
Other dignitaries on the dais were- Jagadish -Chairman Membership Division of Karnataka Tourism society, Abdul Hameed- President of Kanara Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Kudupi Jagadish Shenoy- President of DK Hotel Association; Manohar Shetty- president of Association of Coastal Tourism; among others. Chandrashekar Naik of Tourism Department proposed the vote of thanks, and the “CONNECT” Meet was compered by Nagaraj Hebbar, the Vice President of Association of Coastal Tourism.
MANGALURU TOURISM :
Following the interaction session during the “Connect” Meet, Aloysius Albuquerque Pai-the Managing Director of Summer Sands Beach Resort presented a detailed plan for MANGALURU TOURISM, where he said, ” We need to define Tourism as we need to see it. Tourism is a Concept, mindset, movement, that we need to adopt, if we are to forge ahead. This will be necessary as it will be the fountain on which we are going to chase our dreams and aspirations for Mangaluru to make it a happening place. All our guests need to be happy to take back an experience and be true ambassadors of our City.
Aloysius Albuquerque Pai
For the above to blossom, we need to follow a disciplined formation. This can be illustrated more fully by following three steps, namely- 1) United We Stand 2) No Chain is as strong as its weakest link; and 3) we need to format ourselves in the concept of a wheel with spokes. The HUB is our aim or goal. The SPOKES are the various players. And finally the RIM is the department which keeps all the spokes together and helps the wheel to roll in total harmony. So we need all the three elements of a spoked wheel to be bonded together to take the carriage of tourism to forge ahead. Now let’s characterize ourselves by taking stock of our situation and see our weak and strong points.
The Weak Points are :
1. Tourism has never taken the pride of place in our administration and structure. It is evident from the facts that- We do not have a decent, central tourism office at Mangaluru; We do not have a full time assistant tourism director (ADT) till date; We still neither have a good tourism map, nor a tourism website; No feedback system from the people who visit Mangaluru; Never had a stable one man Director Of Tourism at Bangalore, to stay on for a full term of 3 to 5 years; Mangaluru has not been promoted to any extent as a destination, even though it has everything it takes to do so.
The Strong points are- We have a vibrant enterprising people in the whole spectrum of activities; We have good officers who are most efficient and capable; We have about eight types of totally different cuisines, unique in themselves; A multilingual cultural society with majority speaking a minimum of five languages; Hospitality is second nature of our people; To a great extent because of the missionaries, there has been a strong culture of education, health care, discipline and character formation and a thrust towards excellence; Has been the cradle of five major banks and numerous co-operative banks; Has been a famous trading center from the times of the Portuguese and the Arabs as trading partners. Also has welcomed all people from all parts of India and all parts of the world; Generally a clean city; and Ultimately the USP of the place is its ‘PEOPLE’.
To make it a truly vibrant city, we would like to see these- .As the gate way of Karnataka from the sea, we need three highways of four/six lanes to Bangalore; A super express six lane highway through the Western Ghats via tunnels to Bangalore and further going towards Chennai, with off shoots to various centers; Have events/programmes/conferences, taking place every week; See that our Airport runway is definitely extended to accommodate bigger air crafts for safe landing and up gradation of terminal infrastructure; A commercial and tourism friendly website to be developed with links to all activities, so as to benefit all; Construct a unique local ethnic center for tourist/commercial information and reception center, where all those who visit, will feel the hospitality and warmth of Mangaluru.
Absolutely modern washroom conveniences at strategic places with parking and round the clock power, water supply and maintenance, as this is a litmus test of a really people friendly city; Good roads devoid of road humps, with relevant signages, foot paths and adequate drainage system as well as storm water drains; Parking structures underground or otherwise at regular intervals; Hamilton of Canada has been twinned with Mangaluru; so much so that a circle has been named after it near the DC’s office. We need to follow the same, as to how we can update this twinning programme to our mutual advantage.
We need to explore these- Friendship programs; Student exchange; Group tours;Special interest tours; Culinary arts of various communities; Beach/sunbathing activities; History and culture; Festivals; Spiritual/religious; Fishing; Buffalo (kambala/rearing); Agriculture/horticulture; Creation of a heritage tourist village at Ullal Hoige with a unique ferry service to it from the fabled Jeppu ferry road; Possibility of other twinning programs in the realm of agriculture/horticulture and fisheries. Can we think about sweet toddy tavern areas? A more liberal excise policy. If Goa can do it, we can do it better. People will flock to Mangaluru and all sectors will benefit with the final tax revenue much more than the dwindled excise revenue.
Develop a ‘new hi-tech city’ in a completely different area and have the ultimate in term of infrastructure, with a high speed interconnection to our Mangaluru; An all weather double railway line to Bangalore with more services to garner more revenue; A high-speed local carriage way, by road and rail from Talapady to Kundapur, by passing all busy areas like the Mangaluru harbour; Extension of timings of restaurants, bars and public places like parks/malls/shopping areas; Create an Animal Safari, attached to Pilikula project; Create water way transport infrastructure at the Nethravathi/Gurpur river intersection, using the existing fishing boats which can initially double up as carriers.
Promotion of music, stage shows, local art and culture through the various existing cultural organizations; Use the pectoral and heritage archives of the Basel Mission Institutions and others to highlight the history of Mangaluru into the Tourism scenario; Encourage the influx of students going for their educational tours and the like and create a “state of the art” Youth Hostel and Dormitory with boarding facilities at reasonable rate; The department needs only to concentrate to keep the tourist players focused and bring in more tourists, business and floating population; A full time Tourism Council, to assist the department
Initiate river and short sea cruises; Fishing expeditions; Cultured fish/ prawn farms; Tourism police at specific spots; Extend our sights up to Bekel to the South for house boats if necessary, while encouraging house boats in our own area; Social media pages of Mangalore, so people can share their experience here and provide valuable feedback and further publicity.
Make a presentation of “Mangaluru in the Rains”, in our website and highlight these- Agriculture/horticulture/agricultural operations at farms; Crop plantations and Agricultural Research Stations; Places of interest; The fantastic food palate during the season of rain; Special group packages and special interest tours; Meeting people of various occupations of technical and spiritual nature; “Hello Mangalore”, a delightful joyride by special vehicles to see the important beauty spots of Mangaluru.
