Geospatial Assessment of Tourism Resources across Karnataka Administrative Divisions Using GIS

Abstract Karnataka is rich in various tourism assets like cultural, religious, environmental, animal, seaside, heritage, rural, and metropolitan. Unequal geographical distribution results in inequality in infrastructure, accessibility and regional tourism growth. Much of the earlier work had been concerned with local sites and access. The present study has made a detailed study of the tourism-resource pattern in the 31 districts and four administrative divisions of Karnataka. Using geographic information systems (GIS) technology and descriptive statistical analysis, this study investigates the district and divisional level dispersion of chosen tourist attractions throughout Karnataka. Using Microsoft Excel, a database of 347 tourist locations was developed, geocoded, and linked to the 31 districts and four administrative divisions of the state. The district wise totals were added to ascertain divisional totals, percentage shares, mean destinations per district, standard deviation and regional rankings. The outcomes show the 108 sites representing 31.1% of the state inventory, Mysuru Division had the most tourist destinations, then came Bengaluru Division with 85 destinations (24.5%), Belagavi Division with 80 (23.1%), and Kalaburagi Division with 74 (21.3%). With an average of 12 destinations per district, Mysuru topped the list. Kalaburagi and Bengaluru followed with averages of roughly 10.6 destinations. Mysuru shows the most balanced district level distribution, Belagavi shows the higher internal fluctuation. Leading districts were indicated as Uttara Kannada, Bengaluru Urban, and Mysuru, with 16, 15, and 14 tourism sites respectively. The findings highlight small regional variations and reinforce the need to strengthen inter-district linkages, promote the destinations, develop infrastructure and plan tourism circuits in an integrated manner to enable more balanced development of tourism in Karnataka.