During Dasara the hotel managers in the city used to have a tough time sending away visitors for want of vacant rooms; but this year it is the opposite - there are many vacant rooms, especially in budget hotels, with hardly any takers.
The city has over 4,000 hotel rooms and about 40% of them are in the premium and luxury segment, where foreign tourists from Spain, Russia, UK, Australia, Netherlands and other European countries stay. “There is no problem in this segment, the problem is with the budget travellers, who have read too much into the disturbances in the region due to the Cauvery row. About few hundred rooms, which were booked at least a month back over the net, are facing cancellations. They are from Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Amritsar, Hyderabad, Chennai, many places across Kerala and other tier II cities in Karnataka, including Mangalore and Shimoga.”
The sales of gold card, floated by the Dasara Committee, too is below expectation this season. Not willing divulge the volumes, a palace board official said the sales were not encouraging. Last time these cards were sold out, despite the pricey tag (`5,000 per couple). The buyers get to sit and watch the Jamboo Savari from the comforts of a special enclosure erected within the palace premises and also be the guests of the royal family for a lunch or breakfast.
