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The term tourism is derived from the French word �Tour� which means a journey from one place to another place. It is a movement of leisure time involving movement of journey or stay at new destinations. Tourism is a complex, prismatic and dynamic phenomenon. Tourism development is essential for economic growth, political legitimation, social integration and rural development especially in developing countries like India. It receives increasing attention as a major source for employment generation. With considering the significance of tourism it becomes a need of modern society and support to practices for sustainable development. Therefore, tourism is recognized as economically crucial and environmentally friendly activity. Tourism regards as a passport to peace and promotes spiritual development both at regional and intra-regional level. Tourism in the state has sprung up in recent past though it has a long history after liberalization of the economy, transportation, telecommunication, accommodation and positive government policies.It was observed that nineteenth century aristocratic people of Europe have organized institutional travelling for the sake of educational and experimental purpose. Now-a-days, term tourist is used to travel for pleasure or education but not for financial benefits.Tourism is function of diverse natural and cultural landscapes. It assimilates into environment and culture of destination. The relationship between destination and mankind is major focus of tourism as it is a combination of natural, socio-cultural and politico-historical base make suitable for tourism development in any region. Among them relief features are significant in determining suitable places and spatial distribution of tourist destinations which creates tourism opportunities. It is therefore, necessary to evaluate the profile of study region Karnataka state, through the salient features. Present research paper is an attempt to describe physical and socio-cultural characteristics of Karnataka State.