Calm & Quite! Panambur Beach Wears Deserted Look Amid Covid-19 Lockdown
Mangaluru: A visit this morning to the famed Panambur Beach during sunset, wore a deserted look since the District Administration/Police have prevented entry of people in view of the Covid-19 outbreak, since the implementation of lockdown. A beach that was packed with tourists during regular days, saw no tourists except for bunch of stray dogs making the best use of the beach, during this lockdown. Similarly, entry has been banned at all prominent DK beaches such as Ullal Beach, Someshwar, Malpe etc. Except for couple of lifeguards who have to be present on duty as they need to keep an eye on occasional visitors and locals who might sneak in and venture into the sea, other than that the beach is totally calm and quite, and DESERTED!
The coronavirus scare has started affecting tourism in coastal town, with crowds at this famed beach thinning and hotels reporting cancellations, industry stakeholders- Panambur beach gets lots of visitors from Bengaluru, Northern Karnataka, and also other parts of the Country- but with this lockdown, the scene has completely changed. After PM Modi announced that India will be under 21-day “complete lockdown” and had appealed to people across the country to maintain social distancing to check the spread of the Coronavirus, apart from business, it has majorly affected the tourism sector. It is learnt that travel has fallen by 20-30 percent in 2020 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, putting millions of jobs in the global tourism sector at risk.
A owner of a travel agent in the city stated that during this time of the year, they get heavy booking for local sight seeing, and one among them were the DK beaches including Panambur Beach, especially for tourists from Bengaluru- and now we are facing a terrible loss. And also we used to get business from the passengers of cruise ships, which is now banned from entering the New Mangalore Port, is yet another BIG loss for us, he added.
In spite of lockdown, some people come to the beach in the morning and evening to have respite from the summer heat, but their entry is restricted by the security and couple of lifeguards posted at the beach. And a few distance from the Panambur Beach, near Baikampady, Hosabettu, and nearby places, people from the city have been storming these places for fresh fish, which the smaller boats bring ashore- but the prices are outrageous. Only those who are craving for fresh fish, will pay that amount and buy this expensive fish, where Mackerels (Bangude) are Rs 400 a kg, Kodai are Rs 500 etc.