Daijiworld Media Network: Udupi 

Udupi, Sep 27: Udupi district administration, in collaboration with Tourism Department and Malpe Development Committee, celebrated World Tourism Day at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Auditorium, DC Office, Manipal on September 27 with theme ‘Tourism and jobs: A better future for all.” 

The programme was inaugurated by home minister and district-in-charge minister Basavaraj Bommai. Udupi DC G Jagadeesha, SP Nisha James, Prakash Shetty, businessman, Halady Srinivas Shetty, MLA of Kundapur constituency, Sunil Kumar, MLA of Karkala constituency, Lalaji R Mendon, MLA of Kaup constituency were present on the dais. Raghupati Bhat, MLA of Udupi presided over the programme.

In his inaugural address, Bommai said, people of Udupi are luckier than others as they have virgin beaches as well as the golden sand. He also repeated the slogan ‘Incredible India’ and assured that during his tenure, he would turn Udupi into ‘Incredible Udupi,’ as the district has got all the potential. 

“There are many tourist places in Udupi, but very less prominence is given to tourism,” said Bommai. He promised that he would bring funds to develop the tourist places and also welcomed investors and tourists. 

“Keeping in mind the development of tourism, the GST was reduced from 28% to 18% for hotels. Demands put forth by fishermen were also fulfilled. They demanded one year tax exemption but the government exempted tax for 2 years,” he said. He further added that development is the main motive of the government and promised that he would try his best to bring development in the district. 

Raghupati Bhat said that there is a lot of scope for backwater tourism in Udupi district. “The beaches in Udupi district are much cleaner and pure compared to Goa and many tourists are attracted to Udupi because of temple tourism, Tulunadu culture as well as beach tourism. In the coming days, many more developmental projects will be started and Udupi is going out to be a tourist hub,” Bhat said.