‘Kodagu is Back’ campaign to promote tourism

The resort and homestay owners have initiated a campaign to promote tourism in the district.

The campaign ‘Kodagu is Back’ is aimed at promoting tourism in the district which had been affected by landslides and flash floods causing extensive damage during August.

The tourism industry has sprung back to life in the face of floods affecting Kerala. However, in Kodagu, the tourism industry failed to recover. Hence, the resort and homestay owners in the district have posted two short films to highlight that Kodagu is safe and tourists can visit without any fear. The duration of the video is one-and-a-half minutes and has gone viral on social media.

The short films produced by Drishti have attempted to showcase safety in tourists spots, trekking areas, rivers and mist-filled Kodagu district. There are over 4,000 homestays in the district. After the massive floods that ravaged the district in August, a majority of the homestays have remained closed.

“Other than horticultural crops, the main source of income for the district is tourism. Though tourists are visiting the district since November first week, it has not grown as per the expectations. Hence, the short films are an effort to promote tourism in the district,” said Hotel and Resort Owners’ Association President Nagendra Prasad.

Over one lakh people in the district are dependent on the tourism sector for livelihood. After the landslides, the labourers have returned to their native places. About 80% of the business has been affected. Resort and homestay owners are attempting to sell the resorts. However, there are no buyers, he lamented.

The Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation too joined hands with the resort owners in promoting tourism.

KSTDC Managing Director, Kumar Pushkar said, “There are two hotels run by KSTDC in the district. In the last four months, we have incurred a loss of Rs 1.50 crore.”