At a recently concluded event, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has proposed to develop Badami in North Karnataka into a world class tourist destination. The announcement was made while introducing the annual financial budget for 2019-20 in the State Assembly. The honourable CM has proposed an allocation of Rs. 25 Cr for the same.
While there are many developments that have been proposed, a landmark one is to set up a dedicated Travel and Tourism exhibition to showcase and promote Karnataka. The Chief Minister has proposed Karnataka International Tourism Exhibition (KITE) and allocated a grant of Rs 2 crore for the same.
The budget also proposes introduction of double decker sightseeing buses in Mysuru and Hampi similar to the ones of London Big Bus. For this initiative, Rs. 5 cr has been set aside in the budget. Six such buses will be introduced in the new financial year. The Chief Minister also proposed ‘Tourism Discourse Centres’ in Hampi and Vijayapura and allocated Rs 1 cr each.
Along with this, coastal tourism will also be developed in Sasihittalu of Penambur. For this purpose a grant of Rs 7 crore has been proposed in the budget.
The budget also puts forward many initiatives to improve accessibility and connectivity. There are various initiatives in the budget to address the current infrastructural bottlenecks in the capital city, Bengaluru in order to create ‘Brand Bengaluru’ image on the world stage.
