Karnataka's nature tourism bounces back in monsoon, fills JLR coffers

Nature tourism in the state has picked up like never before as Jungle Lodges and Resorts (JLR) has registered an all-time high revenue for the month of July in its history with Rs 6.46 crore, thanks to the strategic move to reduce tariffs in all but one of 25 JLR facilities.

The government-owned initiatives’ revenue comes from 25 properties, including the famous Kabini River Lodge, spread across different parts of the state.

JLR’s highest ever revenue for July was Rs 3.46 crore recorded before Covid in 2019. This month, the full unlock measures came into effect on July 5 and JLR has registered Rs 6.43 crore by July 26 and hopes that Friday and Saturday will bring additional guests and with that the more revenue.

Kumar Pushkar, the Managing Director of JLR, said that last year, though unlock came into effect in June, business at JLR didn’t pick up till September. “The revenue for July 2020 was Rs 50 lakh. This year, the restrictions were in place till July 5 and Kodagu didn’t open up till July 6. It is good to see JLR seeing such a huge response,” he said.

He said one of the positive outcomes of the story was people appreciating all the 25 properties of JLR. “Normally, it is the Kabini (River) Lodge that gets a huge response. We launched a monsoon offer and cut down the tariff by 30% to 50%, which has boosted the occupancy in the remaining 24 properties,” the officer added.

In the last one month, tourists widened their gaze to look for more than the sought-after lodges Nagarahole, Bandipur, Kali, K Gudi and Dubare. As a result, from the Old Magazine House in the thick forests of Uttara Kannada to the relatively less known nature camps, have drawn tourists in the last three weeks.

Officials, however, are keeping their fingers crossed in view of the predictions over the third wave. The lockdown in April, May and June has hit the revenues hard. The notional revenue loss is estimated at about Rs 26 crore. The actual loss is about Rs 8 crore, most of which is expenditure on salaries, utility charges and taxes. Pushkar, however, said that despite all the challenges in the pandemic year of 2020, JLR had earned about Rs 55 crore, just Rs 10 crore less than the average annual revenue. “If there was no Covid, we would have definitely set a record last year by crossing the Rs 68 crore-mark of 2019,” he added.