Dasara back on tourists itinerary, bookings begin

Online ticket sales a hit; gold cards in demand; counter sales picks up

With five days left for jamboo savari, the grand finale of Dasara on October 24, the cultural capital Mysore is slowly hotting up.

As Cauvery agitation has been kept in abeyance and the Supreme Court’s hearing deferred to another day, Dasara though on the roll, is expected to be zingy for the tourists.

To substantiate this, hotel industry has got back into life with tourists trickling into the city. Starting Wednesday, hotels have been witnessing walk-in and nearly 60 per cent occupancy was recorded.

A prominent hotel in the heart of the city has already booked 35 of the total 60 rooms in advance for October 24. It may be the same in the case of other hotels too.

Adding credence to this, the sale of e-tickets that includes gold cards, tickets to jamboo savari within the precincts of the Palace and torchlight parade at Bannimantap reached its quota within three days from October 17.

Sources told Deccan Herald, despite hike in the price of gold cards this year at Rs 7,500 (Rs 6,000 last year), there is no dearth of takers.

Till Thursday evening, 450 of the total 1,000 gold cards had been sold in four different venues; office of deputy commissioner, Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA), Mysore City Corporation and Palace.

Tickets at the rates of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 for jamboo savari at Palace and Rs 250 for torchlight parade is  being sold at both four government offices and 16 private locations. On an average 15 to 20 books (each having 25 tickets) are sold everyday.

No sooner the online quota was reached, the sales on Dasara website was stopped. This resulted in the surge in the sales of tickets at the counters opened at afore mentioned places.

Apart from the locals who have been flocking to buy the tickets, there is equally good response from North indian tourists already in the city. Tourists from faraway France too have bought gold cards online.

According to an officer at the city corporation who preferred anonymity delay in the issue of passes is also the reason for the demand for tickets. According to him, he has been given charge of 100 gold cards and he is able to sell only 66 till Thursday.

He exuded confidence that remaining cards will be sold out before jamboo savari.

To avoid duplication of the sam, the tickets have been embossed at part; where it reads in Kannada; Mysooru Dasara 2012kke suswagatha (welcome to Mysore Dasara 2012).