[BolliBatlu]

NMPT suggests starting helicopter services for cruise tourists
NMPT mulls helicopter service to attract cruise tourist
NMPT plans to create new infra to boost cruise tourism

AV Ramana, Chairman of NMPT, said that there are plans to set up a dedicated road and an exclusive gate for handling cruise passengers.

In addition to this, NMPT is also planning to set up a transport hub outside the new gate where taxis, autorickshaws will be available to the tourists.

Helicopter linkage

Stressing the need to boost helicopter linkage between Mangaluru and other places of tourist interest within 150 km radius of the port, he said it will give a major boost to tourism.

Stating that he is working on a proposal in this regard, Ramana said it will be submitted to the Chief Secretary of Karnataka. The State government has to identify the places of tourist interests, and give land parcels for helipads (if they are not there). Once these things are ready, private players will be there to invest, he said.

Most of the cruise vessels arrive at the Port in the morning and sail out by evening. The passengers don’t have much time in their hand. Since they want to travel comfortably and safely, this initiative can help, he said.

Cruise traffic

To a query on cruise traffic at the port, he said 26 cruise vessels called at the Port in the last financial year. For 2019-20, the port authorities have got confirmation from 23 cruise vessels. More confirmations are on the way, he said.

More cruise vessels are expected to call at the New Mangalore Port during 2019-20 than last year, he said, adding that the first cruise vessel of the season is expected to call at berth No. 4 on November 4.

On the contribution of cruise traffic to the city’s economy, he said there will be around 2,500 people on each cruise vessel. On an average, a passenger spends around $200 per head per visit.

We will discuss how to carry out spiritual cruise tourism in detail later when a high-quality Spiritual Ashram comes up near Mangaluru port (say somewhere between Mangaluru & Udupi). Till now there were a very few news related to spiritual activities in the coastal region - ‘Puthige Moola Mutt to be spiritual centre’ and there was a mutt wanting to establish an ashram in Gokarna. For the time being next two steps should be (1) to explore possibilities of arranging fully on cruise spiritual training courses along with pilgrimmage cruise-heli tourism to Udupi and other temples of interest in colloboration with international spiritual organizations like ISKCON; can work on Mumbai-Maldives cruise also for domestic market and (2) to establish Spiritual Ashrams or Philosophical Study Centres discussed earlier. Ashram should have ability conduct vlasses in various languages.

By the way note that non-spiritual tourism activities of cruise tourists like visiting non-pilgrimmage places are not disturbed by adding 'on cruise spiritual training' or 'pilgrimmage visits' to their schedule.

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Tulu inscription unearthed in Belthangady village

Connectivity is my concern - NMPT chairman A V Ramana

“But I wish there was seamless connectivity to all the cities right from the north to the south and towards the east through the Western Ghats,” he says and continues, “unfortunately this is not possible currently during all the months of a year. In particular the monsoon season brings this region to a complete standstill for natural reasons and the only the way forward is by building tunnels across the Western Ghats, something which I had proposed to the government to act upon as quickly possible. If that happens, we will have uninterrupted connectivity to all the cities in the region not just for commercial purposes but for other reasons as well,” he says.

While expressing his concern about the absence of trained tour guides in the region (at the moment the tour operators are sourcing college students and selected professionals), he said, the solution for the time being would be to make available ‘recorded audio CDs in different languages that the tourists are familiar with. Meanwhile, some tourist guides can be trained by the Tourism Department on the rich heritage and culture of each tourist spot so that the required amount of information could be divulged to them.

ಪ್ರವಾಸೋದ್ಯಮ ತಾಣಗಳಾಗಿ ಕುದ್ರುಗಳು: ಪ್ರಸ್ತಾವನೆಗೆ ಮರುಜೀವ

ಆಕರ್ಷಣೀಯ ಕುದ್ರುಗಳು

ನದಿಗಳ ಮಧ್ಯೆ ಇರುವ ಕಿರು ದ್ವೀಪಗಳನ್ನು ತುಳುವಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಕುದ್ರು ಎನ್ನುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಜಪ್ಪಿನಮೊಗರಿನ ನೇತ್ರಾವತಿ ನದಿ, ಹಳೆ ಬಂದರು ಪ್ರದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಮೂರು ದ್ವೀಪ ಗಳಿವೆ. ಜಪ್ಪಿನಮೊಗರು ಕಡೆಕಾರಿನ ಬಳಿ ನೇತ್ರಾವತಿ ನದಿ ಮಧ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಸುಂದರ ಕುದ್ರು ಗಮನ ಸೆಳೆಯುತ್ತಿದೆ.

ಒಟ್ಟು 19.75 ಚದರ ಕಿ.ಮೀ. ವಿಸ್ತೀರ್ಣ ಈ ಕುದ್ರುನ್ನು ಪ್ರವಾಸಿ ತಾಣವಾಗಿ ರೂಪಿಸುವ ನಿಟ್ಟಿನಲ್ಲಿ 2011ರಲ್ಲಿ ರಾಜ್ಯ ಸರಕಾರದ ಪ್ರವಾಸೋದ್ಯಮ ಇಲಾಖೆ ಆಸಕ್ತಿ ವಹಿಸಿ ಪರಿಶೀಲನೆ ಕೂಡ ಆಗಿತ್ತು. ಪ್ರವಾಸಿ ತಾಣವಾಗಿ ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿ ಪಡಿಸಲು ಸಿದ್ಧತೆಗಳಾಗಿತ್ತು. ದ್ವೀಪಕ್ಕೆ ಬೋಟು ಸೌಲಭ್ಯಕ್ಕೂ ಚಾಲನೆ ನೀಡಲಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಆದರೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ಪ್ರಗತಿಯಾಗಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಹಳೆ ಬಂದರು ಪ್ರದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ನೇತ್ರಾವತಿ ಮತ್ತು ಫಲ್ಗುಣಿ ನದಿಯಲ್ಲಿನ ಮೂರು ದ್ವೀಪಗಳನ್ನು ಪ್ರವಾಸಿ ಆಕರ್ಷಣಿಯ ತಾಣಗಳಾಗಿ ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿ ಪಡಿಸುವ ಬಗ್ಗೆಯೂ ಚಿಂತನೆಗಳು ನಡೆದಿತ್ತು. ಕುಡ್ಲ ಕುದ್ರುನಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದಷ್ಟು ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿ ಕಾರ್ಯಗಳು ಆಗಿದ್ದರೂ ಪ್ರವಾಸಿಗರನ್ನು ಆಕರ್ಷಿಸುವಲ್ಲಿ ಹೇಳಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಯಶಸ್ಸು ಪಡೆದಿಲ್ಲ.

ಕೇರಳ, ಗೋವಾ ಮಾದರಿ

ಸಣ್ಣ ದ್ವೀಪ, ಸಾಗರ ಮತ್ತು ಹಿನ್ನೀರು ಪ್ರವಾಸೋದ್ಯಮದಲ್ಲಿ ನಮ್ಮ ನೆರೆಯ ರಾಜ್ಯಗಳಾದ ಕೇರಳ, ಗೋವಾ ರಾಜ್ಯಗಳ ಸಾಧನೆಯ ನಿದರ್ಶನ ನಮ್ಮ ಮುಂದಿದೆ. ಸಾಗರ ತೀರದಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರವಾಸೋದ್ಯಮ ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿಗೆ ಸಿಆರ್ಝಡ್ ನಿಯಮಗಳು ಅಡಚಣೆಯಾಗುತ್ತಿವೆೆ ಎಂಬ ಮಾತುಗಳಿವೆ. ಕೇರಳದಲ್ಲಿ 8 ಸಣ್ಣ ದ್ವೀಪಗಳು ಪ್ರವಾಸೋದ್ಯಮ ಕೇಂದ್ರಗಳಾಗಿ ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿ ಹೊಂದಿ ಪ್ರವಾಸಿಗರನ್ನು ಆಕರ್ಷಿಸುತ್ತಿವೆ. ಸಮುದ್ರ ತೀರದಲ್ಲಿ ರೆಸಾರ್ಟ್ ಗಳನ್ನು ಮಾಡಲು ಕಾನೂನಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಲವು ತೊಡಕುಗಳಿವೆ. ಆದರೆ ಪರಿಸರ ಸಹ್ಯ ಪ್ರವಾಸೋದ್ಯಮವನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಬೆಳೆಸಬಹುದಾಗಿದೆ. ಕೇರಳ ಇದೇ ಮಾದರಿಯನ್ನು ಅನುಸರಿಸುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಹಿನ್ನೀರುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಇರುವ ಬೋಟ್ ಹೌಸ್ಗಳು ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ಉದಾಹರಣೆ. ಇದಲ್ಲದೆ ಈಗ ಹಿನ್ನೀರುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಶಾಶ್ವತ ಬೋಟ್ ಹೌಸ್ ಎಂಬ ಹೊಸ ಪರಿಕಲ್ಪನೆ ಪ್ರವರ್ಧಮಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಬರುತ್ತಿದೆ.

ಒಳನಾಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಹಲವಾರು ಹಿನ್ನೀರುಗಳಲ್ಲಿರುವ ಕುದ್ರುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರವಾಸೋದ್ಯಮಕ್ಕೆ ವಿಪುಲ ಅವಕಾಶಗಳಿವೆ. ಇವುಗಳನ್ನು ಕೇರಳ ಮಾದರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿ ಪಡಿಸಿದರೆ ಪ್ರವಾಸಿ ತಾಣಗಳಾಗಿ ಗಮನ ಸೆಳೆಯುವುದರಲ್ಲಿ ಸಂಶಯವಿಲ್ಲ.

ದಕ್ಷಿಣ ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಹೋಂ ಸ್ಟೇ ನಿರ್ಮಾಣಕ್ಕೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿದ ಬೇಡಿಕೆ

ಮಂಗಳೂರು: ಪ್ರವಾಸೋದ್ಯಮಕ್ಕೆ ವಿಪುಲ ಅವಕಾಶಗಳನ್ನು ಹೊಂದಿರುವ ದಕ್ಷಿಣ ಕನ್ನಡ ಜಿಲ್ಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಈಗ ಹೋಂ ಸ್ಟೇ ಪರಿಕಲ್ಪನೆಗೆ ಉತ್ತೇಜನ ಮತ್ತು ಬೇಡಿಕೆ ಉಂಟಾಗಿದೆ. 2 ವರ್ಷದ ಹಿಂದೆ ಕೇವಲ 2 ಹೋಂ ಸ್ಟೇಗಳಷ್ಟೇ ಇದ್ದ ಜಿಲ್ಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಈಗ ಇರುವ ಹೋಂ ಸ್ಟೇಗಳ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ 25. ಧರ್ಮಸ್ಥಳ ಮತ್ತು ಮೂಡುಬಿದಿರೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ತಲಾ 1, ಬಂಟ್ವಾಳ-ಬೆಳ್ತಂಗಡಿಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ತಲಾ 2 ಮತ್ತು ಮಂಗಳೂರಿನಲ್ಲಿ 19 ಅಧಿಕೃತ ಹೋಂ ಸ್ಟೇಗಳಿವೆ. ಈ ಪೈಕಿ 5 ಕಡಲ ತೀರದಲ್ಲಿವೆ.

ಕಳೆದ 3 ವರ್ಷಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಜಿಲ್ಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರವಾಸಿಗರ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆಯೂ ಏರಿಕೆಯಾಗಿದೆ. 2016 -17ರಲ್ಲಿ 1 ಕೋಟಿ, 2017-18ರಲ್ಲಿ 1.2 ಕೋಟಿ, 2018-19ರಲ್ಲಿ 1.4 ಕೋಟಿ ಮತ್ತು 2019ರಲ್ಲಿ ಈಗಾಗಲೇ 1 ಕೋಟಿ ಪ್ರವಾಸಿಗರು ಬಂದು ಹೋಗಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಬೀಚ್ ಹೋಂ ಸ್ಟೇಗಳಿಗೆ ಬೇಡಿಕೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚು.

ಗ್ರಾಮೀಣ ಶೈಲಿಗೆ ಬೇಡಿಕೆ

ಕರಾವಳಿಗೆ ಬರುವ ಪ್ರವಾಸಿಗರು ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಗಿ ಗುತ್ತಿನ ಮನೆ ಸೇರಿದಂತೆ ಗ್ರಾಮೀಣ ಶೈಲಿಯ ಹೋಂ ಸ್ಟೇಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಇರಲು ಇಷ್ಟಪಡುತ್ತಾರೆ. ತುಳುನಾಡಿನ ಪಾರಂಪರಿಕ ವಿನ್ಯಾಸದ ಹೋಂ ಸ್ಟೇಗಳಿಗೆ ಬೇಡಿಕೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚು.

ಕರಾವಳಿ ಪ್ರವಾಸೋದ್ಯಮಕ್ಕೆ ರಾಜ್ಯ ಸರಕಾರ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ಉತ್ತೇಜನ ನೀಡುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಹೋಂ ಸ್ಟೇ ನಿರ್ಮಾಣಕ್ಕೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ಮಂದಿ ಮುಂದೆ ಬರುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಮತ್ತಷ್ಟು ಉತ್ತೇಜನ ನೀಡುವ ನಿಟ್ಟಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸರಕಾರದ ವಲಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಚರ್ಚೆ ಮಾಡುತ್ತೇವೆ.

12th State Level Philatelic Exhibition ‘Karnapex-2019’ held for the FIRST time in Mangaluru
Special postal covers on coastal Karnataka ecology

Outdoor transformational festival to be held near Mangaluru from December 21

Transformational festivals are a global cultural phenomenon. Bloom in Green revolves around six pillars of transformation. “It is about transformation of an individual through sustainability, community, art, adventure, music and mindful living. Being a plastic-free event, workshops and symposiums on ecology and sustainable living will address topics such as upcycled art, urban gardening, healthy eating, permaculture and water harvesting,” she said.

Various community events such as drum circle, dress-exchange parties, community ecstatic dance sessions, group meditations, onsite art projects and jamming sessions. Art workshops will include visionary painting, dream catcher making, contact improvisation, light painting and graffiti. Slacklining, SUP paddling and skate boarding will be an attraction for adventure freaks. Those passionate about music can try out new instruments at workshops. Sound healing sessions, tantric workshops, plant medicine and sunset ceremonies will be held as part of mindful living.

Whether there is anything on 'nano organic fertilizers' usage? I also hope for a discussion on 'nano ayurveda' 1 2 3. Let us have discussions on multilayer farming 2 3 also.

Kayaking enthusiasts promote water sport in coastal city

Tree park inaugurated at Birumale Gudda

KCCI announces action plan for next year

“In the tourism sector we urge to form a district level single window clearance committee to clear all tourism related projects so that investors, stake holders get all permissions done at one point. Promote three annual events that have made a name in Mangaluru namely Indian Open of Surfing, International Kite Festival and River festival using the services of existing institutions.

“Declare Sasihithlu Beach as an exclusive beach for surfing. It is a matter of pride to us that the Surfing Federation of India is based in Dakshina Kannada. To ensure that this sport gets it due we are pursuing with the Government to declare Sasihithlu beach exclusively for surfing activity,” said Isaac Vas.

Pilikula Kambala likely to be back
PETA, armed with evidence, fires fresh salvo against Kambala before SC

Coastal region has immense potential for tourism, says Uday Shetty

Uday Shetty (district statistical officer heading district tourism depatment) agreed that due to the shortage of funds and adequate facilitates, at the moment the region is facing a downfall in the tourism activity, although he said all the efforts are underway to enhance the activities in the near future. “All is not lost, we are in the right direction,” – he said while listing out the tourism-oriented programmes being shortlisted for the season. He explained that the department played a significant role in setting up of a Kiosk (information counter) at the NMPT Cruise lounge, which becomes handy for the international tourists to acquaint themselves with the region. “The department has arranged more toilet facilities at various tourist destinations by involving corporate companies such as NMPT, MRPL, MCF and others as part of their CSR project, besides the ones built by the district
administration. NMPT, by its own has identified Karkala (near Gomata Hills, Udupi district), and Moodbidri (near the Thousand Pillar Basadi), Kadri Temple, Kudroli, Pilikula, and Panambur Beach to build and operate these state-of-the-art toilets at an estimated cost of Rs 25 lac each. Efforts are on to involve more companies and destinations under this initiative,” he said.

When we inquired if setting up of a ‘Coastal Tourism Authority’ will give a significant boost to tourism in Coastal district, he signalled his assertion and said, this will not only give a much needed fillip to tourism in the region, but also will help us attract the foreign tourists vessels direct to Mangaluru and stay on for the night over so that the concerns envisaged by the tour operators are sorted out. If this happens, we will be able to engage more specialised tour guides with a specific programme. Also we will be in a position to accommodate more vessels every year.

“Unfortunately today, the Cruise Vessels wind up their visit within a day and proceed towards Goa or Cochin for the night stay for want of better star hotel/resort facilities. Not that we do not have better sandy beaches in our region but just that we lack better resort facilities in here,” he stated.

Highlights from the interview:

• Focus will be on capitalizing on tourism around waterways like rivers, backwaters and beaches. Also to create the conducive infrastructure around the rivers by involving private investors.

• Additional jetties will be set up and also more ferry services. Safety of the people will be given highest priority.

• Virgin beach near Kerala border will be developed through public auction for a 15 years lease basis.

• Opportunities will be provided to businessmen to play a role in developing tourism, by giving permission to set up floating restaurants.

• Houseboat services will be launched across Netravati/Gurupura/Kuloor rivers through subsidy to private players.

• Over the next 4 to 5 years, the districts will witness a tremendous change in terms of plans announced under Smart City project as the government has promised to infuse more funds within soon.

• An 18-hole golf course attached to a resort to come up near Tannirbavi/Bengre beach.

• The plan is underway to develop and launch a Tourism based App.

• A detailed proposal for a multi-task project is underway and will be submitted to the government within soon.

• An agreement for the maintenance of toilets and other public amenities will be signed with Sulabh Sauchalaya.

• September 27 will be celebrated as World Tourism Day under the theme ‘Tourism and Jobs- Better opportunities for all'.

Pilikula to host full dome film festival, planetarium conference