Tourist havens flooded with hotel bookings as Bengalureans ready for weekend exodus

Bengaluru: Sizzling heat, severe water crisis and a long weekend has got Bengaluru residents itching for short getaways.

To handle the possible surge of travellers, the State Road Transport Corporation is pulling out all the stops. An additional 2,275 buses will hit the road from April 6 to 8.

As if to portend the exodus from the city, especially in the wake of the summer break in April and May, the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) hotels are busy with room bookings.

A good example is Ooty’s Hotel Mayura Sudarshan, which reports 100% booking for the first two weeks of this month.

A KSTDC official told DH that hotels in Biligiri, Bhagamandala, Madikeri, and Vijayanagara top the booking chart, followed by Nandi Hills, Belur, and Mysuru.

The exodus, however, has left eateries and darshinis in the city worried as they expect lower footfall. Hoteliers also anticipate a bad summer season with the Lok Sabha elections turning away tourists to the city.

Ugadi round the corner

Bruhat Bangalore Hotels Association (BBHA) President PC Rao admitted to DH that footfall to eateries and restaurants drop significantly during Ugadi since many go home to celebrate the festival with their families. “This year, we are expecting lower than usual summer tourists because of the elections,” Rao said.

More BMTC buses

Additional buses have been deployed in Panaji, Srisailam, Madurai, Palakkad, Kozhikode, Kannur and Pondicherry outside of the state to bring in more tourists, while more buses are also routed through Belagavi and Kundapura in the state.

While the Bengaluru Metropolitan transport Corporation (BMTC) will operate 100 more buses on Saturday and 80 more on Sunday — providing transportation with greater frequency to railway stations, bus stands, and the airport — the North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) and Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KKRTC) have, respectively, added 100 and 250 additional buses between April 6 and 8.