Theatres, restaurants and pubs in Mysuru shut down as they struggle to keep afloat
Mysuru: Though government has given its nod to the reopening of bars from 1 September, at least 5 bars and pubs have closed permanently in Mysuru and 30 percent of them have not opened yet.
Cuba pub on Kalidasa road, Amrith restaurant on Ooty road, Coastal pearl in Bogadi are few of the bars, pubs and restaurants in Mysuru serving liquor which have shut shop permanently.
However, some of them have closed dining area and converted the liquor units attached to them into Wine stores. Due to covid situation, the response from public is lukewarm, so the owners have not been able to pay rents and bear maintenance costs, which has forced them to close permanently according to Mysuru hotel owners association head Mr C Narayangowda.
While only 50 percent of the hotels were open since June, after government has permitted to open bars from 1 September yet another 20 percent of them have opened. And the occupancy of hotel rooms has been just 5 percent with drop in tourists by 95 percent. Among 3000 rooms offered for Covid care, hardly 10 percent of them are being occupied.
Hence due to covid 19 crisis, after Southern star, Roost and Ramya hotels at least 100 more reputed hotels, restaurants and lodges in Mysuru have permanently closed. And those include the famous Kamat hotel on Ooty road and its yet another branch near highway circle, South thindis on Dhanvanthri road, Paqva restaurant and Rajbhavan in VVPuram, Hemanth restaurant on Sayyaji Rao road, Deepa veg and Manur veg in Saraswathipuram, Meenakshi bhavan, Durgamba mess on Ramavilas road, Shanmuga bhavan in nazarbad, hotel Balaji in Vidyaranyapuram, Shivanna mess in Agrahara, Darwad mess in Gokulam, Shanmuga bhavan in Nazarbad, Shivaguru comforts in Mahavir nagar, Adhdhoori comforts near Mysuru city corporation, royal residency in Nazarbad, BTC comforts opposite Jaganmohan palace, Leelanivas lodge near Devraj urs road, Aadhya lodge in Vijaynagar , Shreyas lodge and others.
Tourists to Mysuru have declined drastically though inter State and inter district travel restrictions have been lifted.
While Mysuru Palace has the fame of having second highest number of visitors after Taj Mahal, there has been a staggering decline of 95% in the number of visitors to the Palace in August this year compared to August last year due to Covid 19 situation. There were 10537 visitors including 22 foreigners to Mysuru Palace in August this year, and in last year August there were 2,07,081visitors including 3,434 foreingers to Mysuru Palace.
Meanwhile, while Mysuru hotel owners association has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Mysuru Association of hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and diagnostic centres and has offered 3000 rooms for quarantining asymptomatic covid 19 positive patients. They are also offering a package for 7 days, with food specified by dietician, 24/7 nursing care and monitoring, medication and telemedicine. But, only 300 to 400 rooms are being used by covid 19 patients.
As many as 30 percent of people in Mysuru depend on tourism. In Mysuru there are 405 hotels with 9500 rooms and there are 1500 hotel owners and 25,000 employees working in the hotels. 65 percent of these hotels are in rented buildings. 40 percent of the tourists to Mysuru are from other States, 10 percent from other Countries and 50 percent of them are domestic tourists from other parts of Karnataka.
Meanwhile, after the closure of 44 year old Shanthala theatre in Mysuru (after its lease period with Anathalaya trust ended), Padma theatre and Thibbadevi theatres are likely to be closed in Mysuru due to loss owing to Covid 19 situation. And also 46 year old Shobha theatre in Kollegal is also closed owing to crisis due to Covid 19.
