Karwar: Tourism hot-spots like the holy-town Gokarna in Kumta taluk and Murdeshwar in Bhatkal taluk wear an unusually deserted look with tourists giving it a miss this time.

The district administration has been conducting surveys by forming teams to look for suspected coronavirus cases, considering the otherwise high footfall of tourists from across the country and world.

Tourists have been avoiding traveling to these places due to the threat of coronavirus. “Normally tourists stop coming from mid-March after the summer steps in. But there would be full of people at least during Holi. But it has been a week since the number of visitors have come down drastically and foreigners, who have already landed here, are eager to pack their bags,” Sridhar Shastri, a priest, told Express.

He said: “Normally, the Indian tourists stop coming to Gokarna by March due to examinations”. But this time, people stopped coming much early.

According to Nagaraj Naik, a resort owner, “Resorts here are getting less customers and only a few foreign tourists, who have their scheduled visa, are awaiting their time to move out.”

The Mahabaleshwara temple and beach in Gokarna, which usually get abuzz with people, now wear a deserted look. A few locals who visited the temple had quick darshan.
Confirming the drastic decrease in tourist footfall, Deputy Director of Department of Tourism Purushottam said tourists are hesitating to visit both Gokarna and Murdeshwar due to coronavirus threat. “People travelling by air are screened thoroughly at Panjim airport,” he said.

He said the tourism has been hit badly and jungle lodges and resorts are almost vacant. “Normally during this time, we would be literally pleading for rooms for guests and tourists. But this years, most of the rooms are vacant,” he said.

He said there has been zero entry into Gokarna and Murdeshwar at present.

The situation is similar at Murdeshwar as scuba diving and other aqua sports are finding no takers. The Murdeshwar temple is getting very less devotees.

When asked about steps taken to monitor tourists, Purushottam said the zilla panchayat and district administration are already at it.