Special flight package tours to Hampi

Apart from celebrating the 500th anniversary of the coronation of Sri Krishnadevaraya on a grand scale, the Tourism Department will introduce special flight package tours from major cities to Hampi.

Addressing presspersons here on Sunday, Tourism Minister G. Janardhan Reddy, who is also chairman of the Cabinet sub-committee to organise the event, said that special flight package tours would be organised from Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Goa to enable the tourists, both domestic and foreign, to visit Hampi. The flights, with private-public participation, would start operating from January 15 for a fortnight.

“It will be a two-day package tour, inclusive of all — transport, boarding, lodging and sight-seeing. The tourists will be taken round Hampi to be shown the rich culture, tradition, their engineering expertise and mastery over the art and architecture. The Tourism Department has launched a campaign to publicise the event, which is also clubbed with the annual Hampi Utsav — a three-day mega cultural festival of dance, drama and music — in major cities for which Rs. 3 crore has been earmarked,” Mr. Reddy.

The Minister said the State Government had earmarked Rs. 30 crore for the celebrations of the event, of which about Rs. 15 crore would be utilised for the three-day mega cultural festival to be held at Hampi from January 27 to 29.

A skywalk would be erected temporarily, from the vehicle parking area to the main venue, keeping in view the large public participation.