Kaapi Trail at BIAL

BANGALORE: Visitors to the Bangalore International Airport will be surrounded by enriching aromas of different South Indian Coffee blends for the next ten days.Unvieling ‘Kaapi Trail’ BIAL and Karnataka Tourism, in collaboration with the Coffee Board, have set up nine stalls on the airport premises to educate tourists on the different types of coffee available in the southern part of the country.The inaugural programme was also used to announce further plans for the development of coffee tourism in the South which would begin from Bangalore and extend to coffee plantations in the surrounding states.This is planned on the lines of the Wine Trail tours in France and the Scotch Trails of Scotland. “The plan is to integrate it into a click internet package tour in the coming months,” said Hari Marar, Director Operations, BIAL.In the coming months, tourists interested in pursuing the coffee trail will have package tours which would take them to places like Baba Budangiri Hills, Chikmagalur, Mysore, Kodagu, B R Hills, Nilgiri Hills, Shevaroys, Pulneys, Travancore and the Araku Valley in Andhra Pradesh.These places have various coffee plantations nestled amongst placid valleys and lush green forests and are ideal for tourists.“Bangalore’s geographic location makes it the gateway to the south.It is centrally located to cater to all places in the coffee trail and BIAL is perfectly poised to handle the traffic,” said K Vishwanatha Reddy, Director of Tourism, Government of Karnataka.“We are encouraging the creation of more and more home stays as these are ecofriendly. We already have 350 of them registered with us and functioning quite well,” he said.He also mentioned that the State government is investing around Rs 50 crore for infrastructure addition in Kemmannugundi which will be in place by February of next year.Jawaid Akhtar, Chairman of the Coffee Board stated that India is a major player in the global coffee market which is second only to the petroleum market in terms of revenue. “South India produces 95% of all coffee produced in India and Karnataka contributes 70% to this, it is only correct then that the ‘Kaapi Trail’ start from Bangalore,” he said.Akthar also pointed out that coffee consumption is increasing at 2.3% every year as compared to production growth of 1%. The interesting factor which would make ‘Kaapi Trail’ appeal to tourists is the fact that in South India, coffee is grown in pristine and densely wooded areas unlike other countries which grow coffee under the open sun.This is what gives Indian Coffee a distinct flavour and also makes the idea of staying at one of the plantations seem like a welcoming proposition. ‘Kaapi Trail will be co ordinating with state and private tourism related players in order to offer coffee lovers a complete package from Airport to Airport.