Talking about 'quality of life', tourism and recreation is another area where we all expect certain standards of amenities and infrastructure. Further, tourism is known to be an excellent way of boosting internal economy. Across states of India, Karnataka today ranks 4th on domestic tourism, and 5th on international tourist arrivals.
Even though a lot of work has been done by sate government over last 5-6 years (roads to destinations, information, visit Karnataka campaign etc), things can always be better. A good ranking relative to other states of India should not mean much, the standards could be better when judged on absolute terms. Also, there does not seem to be much active citizen involvement, feedback and participation in development and planning of tourism infrastructure and campaigns.
I was wondering if we can include tourism and recreation from review, citizen reports in amenities, suggestions and fact based complaints perspective on Praja.in website. Since a lot of us experience tourism in our state pretty regularly, we should have a lot to contribute in this area.
As always, whether we will be able to get in and connect with tourism ministry or not will depend on the critical mass and willingness of users of this website. But there is no harm in trying to create a sub-community here for promoting and tracking the performance of Karnataka state tourism development corporation and state tourism minister via reports and suggestions from the ground.
We will need a new category for such posts, and will also require easier way of adding pictures. Techs and Admins will take a note and do the needful if there is enough interest in starting this new subject here.
[Note: Pic from Kudremukh National Park by RahulR @ flickr]
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KSTDC website?
http://kstdc.nic.in is listed on NIC directory, the site does not open. And the new website built by KSTDC (www.karnatakatourism.org) is listed as an attack page and is blocked by my PC security software!
How exactly do people find tourism related information from state government over Internet?
Pilikula-Mangalore, A great spot
Just visited Pilikula in Mangalore - excellent new spot for tourists & for picnics. The area includes a zoo, a spotlessly clean lake with greens around, a new golf course & many cultural sports activities nearby.
Tremendous potential
Tremendous potential for tourism in Kar. But then, it is the Kar Govt that runs it. Website apart, many of the destinations lack basic amenities. Govt is promoting locations with photographs of the CM and Tourism Minister without working out any details.
Tourism, by and large is at the mercy of unorganised private travel agents.
A proposal for Heritage Walk path in Mysore was given. Nothing has materialised till date.
What is development?
If development means cutting down forests, selling off prestine sites to private enterprises to build their own enclave, finding broken beer bottles at the foot of every waterfall, and plastic sacks, bottles and garbage floating in every river and on every hill you encounter (and many other destructive things I'm sure you are aware of), I just don't want it. I'd rather spend the money to keep poachers, loggers, miners (and even the general public to some degree) as far as possible from such places!
On the other hand, if development means keeping the heritage intact, not moving a single stone in whatever remote areas we are left with, making what is available better (roads, amenities), and strictly regulating destructive behavior in whatever form or fashion, I'm all for it.
Knowing how well our people and authorities behave and act, I'd rather live with places that are real hard to access but are left clean & natural, and hope to leave it for our kids to improve on. Risking 'development' as we think and know today is just an open invite to clean house. We have already snatched quite a lot from our kids. Be careful what you wish for here!!!!
Hope those who had the opportunity to travel can relate to what I'm talking here. It's insane what happens in many of our 'tourist spots'. Sorry for the rant here, but my heart just breaks down every time I see mother nature abused this way.
bit shortsighted Ravi
Yes, most popular tourist places see negative effects of "developments", but using that fact to make an extreme sounding statement - don't 'develop' them - is a bit short sighted.
The problem is in the way they are developed. There is tremendous demand being generated for domestic tourism and recreation. Middle class wants to have a good time on long weekends, vacations etc, and we get a raw deal.
On supply side, there are limited number of destinations, price range is too extreme, only the actual tourist spots see development, the host town don't see the proportionate amount of sprucing up. There is lack of certified and quality information on destinations.
I think these things will come out better once few people post detailed reports based on real experiences. Let us wait for first few such posts then.
Re: Bit Shortsighted, @ SB
True, it sounded shortsighted... I went back to read it once again to be sure! Frustration really shows.
Read again though. I was trying to explain the type of 'development' we don't want, and the type we need. Without proper planning, regulation, education and enforcement, I'm just too afraid we might end up loosing whatever there is left. I think we should make preserving what we have our first priority.
That apart, it certainly is a good idea to start reporting and have a lively debate here on Praja (the topic of your first entry). Looking forward to it.
GoK's focus on coastal region
Posting a couple of articles that appeared in the papers recently:
"The state budget has given special emphasis towards promoting tourism in Karnataka in general and its coastal districts in particular, said tourism minister Janardhana Reddy said here on Saturday. While the total out lay for promotion of tourism is Rs 257 crore, Reddy said the three coastal districts would get Rs 50 crore with special focus on developing beach tourism including development of Malpe beach in Udupi. "
Full details here: Rs 50 crore to develop beach tourism
"The much-awaited heli-tourism project in Karnataka will shortly take to the skies. Mooted first by G Janardhan Reddy, minister for tourism, during one of his earlier visits to this coastal city, this project had largely remained confined to several rounds of discussions. However, Reddy said on Saturday that the project was on the right line and tenders for this project would be awarded on April 1 after they are opened on March 25."
Full details here: Heli-tourism project to come soon
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Manish.