10-fold hike in palace entry fee for foreign tourists draws flak

The Mysuru Palace Board’s decision to hike the entry fee for foreign tourists from ₹100 to ₹1,000 has drawn flak from stakeholders who have questioned its rationale.

The fee has been hiked across all categories of visitors but it is only marginal in the case of tourists. The palace entry fee for Indians has been hiked from ₹100 to ₹120 and for children in the age group of 10 to 18, the hike is from ₹50 to ₹70. But in the case of international tourists, a 10-fold hike has been announced and has drawn criticism.

The hospitality sector has said that such a steep hike was not only irrational but amounted to taking a regressive step as it will discourage from foreign tourists from visiting Mysuru.

Narayana Gowda of Mysore Hotel Owners Association said doubling the entry fee for foreign tourists from ₹100 to ₹200 would be acceptable but a 10-fold increase has to be questioned.

The hospitality sector has rued that such a steep hike comes at a time when the number of foreign tourists visiting Mysuru was already dwindling since the last few years instead of an increase.  

Mysuru Palace received more than 4 million tourists during 2023-24 and only 34,604 were foreigners. During the previous year (2022-23) the palace received 3.39 million visitors but there were only 23,168 foreign tourists.

Few foreign travellers

A cursory glance at the statistics since 2012-13 indicate that foreign tourists visiting Mysuru was never more than 2.5% to 3% at its peak and was hovering at around 1 per cent since the last few years.

Mr. Prashanth of Safe Wheels which is in to travel, ticketing and taxi business, said they have already submitted quotations to their potential customers about the fares and entry fee to various places of tourist interest and a sudden 10-fold hike will reflect badly on them.

”As representatives of travel and tourism sector we are writing a letter to the Palace Board as also the Deputy Commissioner expressing our opposition to such a steep hike,” he said.

The stakeholders also questioned whether the Palace Board was out to provide additional facilities by way of free publications, guide service etc to justify the 10-fold hike.

There is also a perception that despite Mysuru’s potential the city has not been promoted by the successive governments and though a lot of noise is made during Dasara, it does not translate into anything substantial on the ground.

The tourism sector in Mysuru is entirely fuelled by domestic travelers despite the city being a hub for yoga, heritage, wildlife and an ideal base camp to explore the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Belur, Halebid, and Somanathpur.

Stakeholders concern about dwindling foreign tourists also stems from the fact that domestic tourists do not spend as much as international travelers so as to boost their bottom line.

Foreign tourists express dismay

A section of foreign tourists who visited the Mysuru Palace on Friday were taken aback by the steep hike in entry fee and said the move would not encourage tourism.

Catherine from Germany said they were told that the prices were equal for all including the local people but this example of a 10-fold increase was not logical. “You want us to come and visit your place which is nice but we should also pay the same amount as the locals do,” she said.

Similar views were expressed by two other tourists who said they were a bit annoyed by the price. They said it was an injustice and the gap was huge between the entry fee for locals against what is being charged to foreigners. Not many foreigners come here and if one wants to encourage more foreign tourists to visit then there should be no gap between the entry fee for what is charged for locals and the foreigners, they added.

Published - October 25, 2024 07:20 pm IST