‘Experience tourism now popular among travellers’

Mysuru: Senior IFS officer Manojkumar, who is MD of Jungle Lodges & Resorts, which is a unit of the Karnataka government, on Monday stated that ecotourism is a tool for conservation. He said experience tourism is becoming popular among travellers.He also explained how ecotourism is now benefiting the local communities as they are part of the initiatives.Participating in a panel discussion on Eco-tourism Initiatives, Management and Challenges, he stated that to a maximum extent only 20% of the areas are exposed to ecotourism activities. “We are able to generate 850 jobs for locals through our ecotourism initiatives. To create the same number of jobs in other sectors, a huge capital investment is required. Today, through our naturalist training programme, we are able to train many,” he explained.“When I was posted in Dandeli (Uttara Kannada), there was a huge demand for permitting mining and plywood factory works, he said. “There were regular protests. Employment was one of the biggest challenges, but today, there are no such demands because of the opportunities created for ecotourism activities,” he said.Stating that experience tourism is gaining popularity, he said that people who visit the elephant camps want to give baths to the elephants. They want to enjoy the mud, but the challenge is creating required human resources to manage this kind of tourism, Manojkumar explained.Increase in revenueManojkumar also stated that the ecotourism activities continue to witness huge demand which is reflected in the growth of the company’s revenue over the years. Our revenue increased from Rs 5,300 lakh three years ago to Rs 11,337 lakh in the financial year 2022-23 till February end, he said.
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