About Padaki Travel Desk
From internet pioneer to Karnataka’s most trusted travel companion — this is the story of why we do what we do, and how we’ve done it for over two decades.
The Internet Pioneer
It all started with an idea and a conversation. In 1996, when the internet was just arriving in India, most people saw it with curiosity. Muralidhar Padaki saw it as an opportunity to solve real problems for real people.
Working with a talented developer from Bangalore, Muralidhar created a Kannada language font that could display Kannada text beautifully on the internet. At that time, this was revolutionary. While newspapers like Sanjevani were uploading news as JPG images that took minutes to load on a dial-up connection, Muralidhar’s text-based approach loaded in seconds.
This feature led to a partnership with Udayavani newspaper. For 3 years, Muralidhar and his team managed the newspaper’s online presence, proving that technology and journalism could work together beautifully.
Finding True Purpose
Success with the Udayavani project proved Muralidhar’s technical capabilities. But it was a chance conversation with a good friend, Mr. Narayana Charlu, that changed everything.
— Mr. Narayana Charlu
As a businessman, Muralidhar thought: Why not? Why not combine everything I’ve learned about technology, design, and user experience with this emerging opportunity in travel?
The Bold Step
In early 1998, Muralidhar went directly to the Tourism Department of Karnataka. “I can create a website that showcases Karnataka’s tourism,” he told them. “I can help hotels, resorts, and tour operators reach customers across the world directly. I can make our state visible to the world.”
The government officials were encouraging: “You can do whatever you want. We can support you with collaterals and information. But we can’t fund you.” It was clear support without resources — exactly the kind of challenge that appeals to entrepreneurs.
karnatakatourism.com
Muralidhar researched successful travel websites and noticed that most worked like booking engines or classified directories. He decided on a different approach — a magazine-style website. Beautifully curated, thoughtfully designed, with real information about each property.
Getting hotels on board was the hard part. For every 10 hotel owners approached, only 2 signed up. Trust was low. The internet was still new. Nobody really understood how a website could bring customers. But persistence paid off — within months, 40 hotels and resorts across Karnataka were on board.
The Pivotal Lesson
The website got visitors. Decent traffic. But conversion was near-zero. Hotel owners were frustrated. The problem was clear: nobody trusted the internet yet for bookings. Everyone wanted to talk to a real person.
— Muralidhar’s uncle, whose advice changed everything
This shift in focus changed their fortunes entirely.
Surviving the Giants
For the first several years, the strategy worked beautifully. karnatakatourism.com became the go-to resource for travellers planning trips to Karnataka. Padaki Tours and Travels built a loyal clientele of travellers, hotel partners, and tourism operators.
Then, between 2005 and 2010, everything changed. Booking.com arrived with Silicon Valley funding. Then Expedia. Then MakeMyTrip. Then Agoda. These were global corporations with billion-dollar marketing budgets and a ruthless focus on one thing: undercutting prices. Overnight, smaller operators like Padaki were pushed to the margins.
The Choice We Made
We could not compete with MakeMyTrip’s discounting power. We would never match their marketing spend. We didn’t have access to venture capital. So instead, we decided to compete on what we could control: integrity and genuine customer care.
We chose to serve travellers who valued experience over price. We chose to be available 24×7 via phone, email and every available channel when something went wrong. We chose to be a real person, not a chatbot. We chose to see every customer’s journey through to completion.
24+ Years Later — Still Here, Still Growing
Due to certain internal reorganising, karnatakatourism.com became karnatakatravelguide.in and what was Padaki Tours and Travels came to be known thereafter as Padaki Travel Desk.
It’s 2026 now. We’ve survived the .com bubble. We’ve survived the arrival of Silicon Valley giants. We’ve survived a pandemic that shut down global travel.
And we’re still here, still growing, still serving.
Today, Padaki Travel Desk is an authorised agent for KSTDC and Jungle Lodges & Resorts. We also have special tie-ups with various trustworthy travel operators across India and a few international destinations. We work with them closely and ensure all our customers get the best of services. We serve hundreds of happy travellers every year — many of them returning clients who book with us year after year.
But the numbers don’t tell the real story. The real story is the relationships. It’s the families who trust us, the couples who return to us, the corporate groups who choose us, the grandparents who trust us to coordinate multi-generational trips.
What We Believe
Don’t just take our word for it
Here is what a few of our customers have to say about us. Watch their stories — you would not think any further and book your next travel with us only.
Watch customer testimonials“Happiness through Holidays” — Padaki Travel Desk