Thaindian News

Panaji, Oct 13 (IANS) For the Karnataka government, mining ranks second only to last year’s swine flu scare as far as a bad press is concerned, according to a top tourism ministry official.

Addressing a press conference as part of the Karnataka Tourism Roadshow here Wednesday, Principal Secretary (Tourism) K. Jothiramalingam said the tourists who come to Karnataka were not at all bothered about mining.

“H1N1 gave little more negative publicity compared to mining,” Jothiramalingam said while responding to a question on whether the bad press Karnataka received on illegal and legal mining would affect the tourism prospects of the state, which is promoting nature and heritage tourism.

“Tourists are not bothered about mining. They want eco-tourism, trekking, heritage, beaches,” he said.

Recounting the scare caused during the H1N1 outbreak last year, Jothiramalingam said the swine flu virus had created a virtual terror among the foreign tourists visiting India.

“The entire reservation on the Golden Chariot (a luxury train that traverses tourism circuits in and around Karnataka) booked by Japanese tourists was cancelled due to the H1N1 scare,” Jothiramalingam said.

Karnataka has received 1.98 crore domestic tourists and 160,000 foreign tourists in the first six months of 2010.