Tourist guides deprived of govt benefits

With the lockdown, following the outbreak of COVID-19, tourist guides across the district are under stress and are facing hardships.

The district has several historical hotspots and lakhs of tourists from parts of the world visit them. Hundreds of families depend on tourism for their livelihood. Following the lockdown from March, the tourism sector is affected severely.

In 2018, as many as 28,98,779 Indians and 56,315 foreign tourists had visited the district. Similarly, in 2019, 19,921,96 Indians and 50,838 foreigners had visited various tourist hotspots in Hassan district.

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However, until February 2020, 1,79,403 Indians and 10,191 foreigners have visited the tourist places here.

As many as 75 tourist guides are there at temple towns Belur, Halebid and Shravanabelagola. All the temples remain closed and there is no business for hotels as well as accommodation facilities.

Taranath, president of Hoysala Tourist Guides Association, said that the tourist guides are facing sever hardships as they have no other source of income.

“The guides do not get any benefits from the government. The government have issued licenses, but, no benefits are available. A tourist guide gets 15 days of work in a month. So, the government should offer Rs 5,000 as honorirum to the tourists per month,” the president demanded.