Now, KDA demands Kannada on Tourism department's signage

Targeting English signage and boards in the city again, members of the Kannada Development Authority (KDA) demanded that the state tourism department ensure that all their brochures, signage, hoardings and boards are in Kannada.

The KDA team visited the tourism office on Tuesday morning and instructed the department’s officials to shift from English to Kannada within a month and a half. Tourism department director N Manjula assured them that the department would do it wherever possible.

“Unlike other state government departments, the tourism department is not limited to Karnataka and Kannadigas alone. We cater to national and international tourists. Wherever it is possible, we will instal dual language boards (Kannada and English), but only Kannada is not possible. We cannot make tourists feel helpless and depend on locals for guidance,” said a tourism official who did not want to be named.

Citing the example of Tamil Nadu, the official explained that tourists there are not happy as they are greeted with signage in the local language everywhere. “After having their way with Metro rail, they are now asking us to change. We rank second in domestic travel and fifth in international travel. To reach the number one spot, we need to be open to people from across the globe. How will that happen if every thing is in Kannada alone? Kannada is being used in internal communication and files wherever possible. But everything cannot be in Kannada alone as it has communication with other states and organisations also,” the official told the KDA team.

The KDA accused the tourism department officials of not promoting the state’s culture in its true spirit globally. They expressed unhappiness at the usage of English language in all its brochures and advertising material.