The Karnataka government has proposed three new airports to be built in Madikeri, Karwara and Chikkamagaluru to promote tourism.
Karnataka has made tourism promotion as one of its top priorities with a focus on popularising some of the state's less explored areas.
Currently Karnataka has only two international airports in Bengaluru and Mangalore.
The upcoming airport in Karwara will be an international airport. Travel players see this as a game-changer for the state's tourism sector.
"Better connectivity aids the growth of both leisure and business travel. Karwar, Madikeri and Chikkamagaluru are popular with tourists looking to discover lesser-known places so last-mile air-connectivity will definitely spur tourist interest and growth," said Ritesh Agarwal, founder and CEO, OYO.
"These cities will now have to rapidly upgrade their land transport and hospitality infrastructure to meet increase in demand, and we would be happy to partner them in this endeavour. This is a very positive step taken by the government and gives a lot of encouragement to the corporate sector to invest further in the state," he said.
Karnataka was recently rated as the 4th best state on the list of top ten best value destinations of 2015 by The Rough Guide. These airports will help tourists to explore the lesser known attractions in Karnataka.
Karan Anand, head of relationships at Cox& Kings, feels it will help Karnataka develop its tourism further.
"Any initiative by the central and state government to launch new airports will increase connectivity. It can only be good for travel and increase opportunities. It will also add more capacity for travel," he said.
BW Reporters
The author is a journalist with BW Businessworld. He primarily covers Retail, Media & Entertainment and Travel & Tourism sectors
