Karwar: Tourism in Uttara Kannada district, which witnessed a slowdown due to recent flood and heavy rain, has begun recovering. Homestays and resorts are once again seeing an increase in the inflow of tourists which is generating good income.

Many towns and villages in the coastal and Malnad districts in Uttara Kannada district were badly affected by floods in August. This naturally brought down the tourist inflow. Around 30,000 tourists cancelled their visits to the district during the flood this year. Now, the weather is fine and normal and officials of the Tourism Department hope that tourism will soon come back to normalcy.

“Tourist activities in Malnad areas in the district generally gain pace after September 15 when the rain comes down and greenery and waterfalls come alive. Now, the inflow of tourists to the waterfalls, temples and resorts of the districts is improving. All the 124 resorts in Dandeli and Joida areas are full. This is a positive development,” said In-charge Deputy Director of Tourism S Purushottam.

He said that generally, the number of tourists coming to coastal and Malnad areas in rainy season is less. But this time, it was lesser. Many roads leading to tourist spots were battered by rain and flood. But now, the spots have regained life and were once again welcoming tourists. 

Houseboats

He informed that the Tourism Department was initiating several steps to boost tourism activities in the district. Permission had been accorded to introduce two each houseboats in Kali and Aghanashini rivers. These boats would operate between Kinnar and Karwar in Kali river and till Tadadi port in Aghanashini,” S Purushottam informed and added that interested person can send any number of applications to get permission for houseboats.