Tourists galore in C'magalur

14,38,685 tourists visit district in December alone

The land of coffee and hills, Chikmagalur has been witnessing a steady increase in the number of tourists coming to the district.

In December alone, the district had 14,38,685 tourists coming in, thereby pushing Chikmagalur to the forefront on the State’s tourism map.

A total of 74,92,370 visitors came to the district last year. As many as 6.40 lakh people had visited Sharadapeeth in December alone. Kalasa had two lakh people coming in, while Horanadu had four lakh tourists, Balehonnur had 1.60 lakh tourists visiting while Chikmagalur city had 2,069 people visiting. Bababudngiri hills had 12,116 devotees thronging in December alone.

While Sharadapeet, Kalasehwara temple, Horanadu Annapurneshwari temple, Rambhapuri Peet, Kodandaramaswami temple at Hiremagalur are some of the religious and spiritual centres, Kemmangundi, Chandradrona hills, Kudremukh are some of the spots people have been coming to enjoy nature’s bounty. Last year, Sringeri had 37.11 lakh devotees visiting, Kalasa had 9.11 lakh, Balehonnur Mutt had 11.10 lakh and Kemmangundi had 96,776 people visiting. Chikmagalur city had 27,122 visitors while Bababudangiri had 1.40 lakh tourists.

With the number of tourists visiting the district increasing over the years, several home stays, eight resorts, three Star hotels have come up in the region.

However, the tourists looking for home stays are comparatively higher.

However, the district administration should take steps to repair the roads in the district because most of the people are complaining of bad roads and this is mainly the reason why most people are delaying their tour to the district.

The district needs a tourism information desk too, where information about various tourists’ destinations and stay facilities could be made available to the tourists.