Shankarapura: On the occasion of World Tourism Day, Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Research (Welcomgroup Graduate School Hotel Administration), Manipal University held a one-day seminar on Farm Tourism and Home Stay. The event took place on September 27, 2016 at Rotary Club Shankarapura.
The main purpose of this event was to popularize Jasmine flower cultivation and also popularize Shankarapura as a popular tourism destination globally. Rtn. Anil D’Sa (President) Rotary Club Shankarapura accorded a warm welcome to the representatives from Manipal University and students and welcomed the dignitaries to the dais. The event was inaugurated by lighting the traditional lamp.
Shankarapura Jasmine, marked as the geographical indication, the opportunity of promoting the destination was initiated by WGSHA and representatives of Stayzilla (an online platform for homestays). It was very much informative for the people of Shankarapura to know more about generating revenue out of their agricultural lands by building homestays and other facilities.
Jasmine cultivation began in Shankarapura before a century ago and it was the daily bread of people of Shankerpura for a century and then slowly spread to the neighboring villages. Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Research and Department of Allied Hospitality Studies, WGSHA, Manipal University recognized the effort of Jasmine farmers on World Tourism Day.
Rtn Edward Mendonsa explained in detail the growth and cultivation to the faculty members and the students who attended the seminar. He explained to students how to grow plants – Jasmines are bloomed, plucked early in the morning, tied and marketed to the flower merchants of Shankarapura. He also explained how Jasmines are popular not only in Karnataka but also in Mumbai as large chunk of Jasmines are exported to Mumbai by flight daily.
The faculty members present were Prof Parvadhavardhini Gopalakrishnan (Principal, Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration), Prof. P. Valsaraj (Head – Department of Allied Hospitality Studies and coordinator Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Research) Dr. Senthil Kumaran and Prof Sandeep Srivastava. Pradeep and Mahesh, officials from Stayzilla, Bengaluru conducted the Agritourism Seminar. Around 65 students of Dept. of Allied and Hospitality Studies attended the programme.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof Valsaraj said the purpose of conducting the seminar was to highlight the popularity of Shankerpura Jasmine to domestic and international tourists and promote farm tourism and homestays at Shankerpura.He further added that the Centre for Hospitality and Tourism Research will be conducting similar program in rural areas to foster the development of community-based tourism through training, mentoring and marketing support by involving stakeholders at all stages of tourism life cycle.
On the occasion the students were also introduced to farming wherein they visited an agricultural farm located near Bantakal Engineering College.
