Mysore/Mysuru: A colourful procession was taken out as part of World Tourism Day, organised by the Department of Tourism in association with several organisations, in city this morning. For the first time, five Dasara elephants added glitter to the celebrations. Deputy Commissioner Dr. K.V. Rajendra flagged off the procession in front of Palace and greeted foreign tourists with a rose and a box of Mysore Pak.

Women dressed in traditional Kodava attire performed arathi to the tourists, to mark the significance of the day.

Speaking on the occasion, DC Dr. Rajendra said that more such programmes should be organised to attract tourists to the city.

The procession, which began from Palace North Gate, passed through K.R. Circle, Sayyaji Rao Road and Government Ayurveda Hospital Circle that also forms a part of Jumboo Savari route, before returning on the same route to the Palace premises.

Five Dasara elephants — Arjuna, Dhananjaya, Mahendra, Varalakshmi and Vijaya — were the main attractions of the procession, led by Mounted Police astride horses, along with Kodava men and women dressed in traditional attire, beating drums, students of Tourism and Hospitality Management from Mahajana Tourism Development Institute, Tibetan students, three horse driven tongas and five sarots decorated with flowers, open jeeps decorated with balloons and several others, that also included folk troupes like puja kunita, gombe and garudi kunita.

Unlike previous years, when the stakeholders of tourism industry were celebrating Tourism Day, this time, the Tourism Department had taken the lead under the guidance of Joint Director of Tourism M.K. Savitha, in association with Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC), Mysore Palace Board, Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya, Mysuru Travels Association (MTA), Mysuru Hotel Owners Association, Mysore Hotel Owners Association Dharmadatti and Hotel Owners Credit Cooperative Society.

Deputy Mayor Dr. G. Roopa, SP Seema Latkar, DCP (Law and Order) M. Muthuraj, Deputy Director of Mysore Palace Board T.S. Subramanya, Rangayana Mysuru Deputy Director Nirmala Mathapati, Kannada and Culture Assistant Director Dr. M.D. Sudarshan, B.S. Prashanth and C.A. Jayakumar of MTA, President of Hotel Owners Association C. Narayanagowda, President of Hotel Owners Credit Cooperative Society Narayan Hegde and others were present.