Odisha’s Tourism blueprint
Ashok Chandra Panda, Minister of Tourism of Odisha, presents a broader picture of the growth potential of state. He also talks about the roadmap to develop tourism and related infrastructure by adopting a tourist-friendly approach.
Wooing international and domestic travellers
We are witnessing a 10-15 per cent hike in foreign tourist arrivals and 22-25 per cent increase in domestic arrivals. We mainly receive budget travellers and 10 per cent of high-end clients from India. We receive high-end clients from foreign countries as well. The state has 200 Buddhist sites and we will promote Buddhist destinations such as Ratnagiri, Udayagiri and Lalitgiri that form the Diamond Triangle of Odisha. In addition, we will also promote the Golden Triangle Circuit – Puri, Konark and Bhubaneshwar to further augment tourism. We plan to go for aggressive marketing by participating in global travel, tourism exhibitions and hosting our travel partners from overseas to get them acquainted with all new tourism products in Odisha. In the domestic market too, the Department plans to hold a roadshow - Festivals of Odisha. The Department will attend international tourism events to be held in Berlin, London and New York.
Tourist police in Odisha
Safeguarding tourists
Going forward, we are one of the first states to have launched Tourist Police as a recent initiative to boost inbound and domestic arrivals. In a bid to ensure safety of tourists, Odisha government recently opened tourist cells in some selected police stations. The special cell would be opened on experimental basis in the police stations at Puri Sea Beach, Chandrabhaga, Satapada, Gopalpur, Chandipur, Lingaraj and Nandankanan and Dhauli in the first phase. The tourist cells in police stations would be manned by one sub-inspector, one ASI and field staff. They would have separate non-khaki dress code. The home department would impart special training for these personnel to deal with the tourists. Depending on the success of these tourist cells, the project would be then expanded to other places of tourist importance.
Roadshows galore
The state is also gearing up for a slew of roadshows, which will be used as a platform to create awareness among the general public and tour operators of other cities regarding the tourist potential of Odisha. The roadshows will be organised in eight cities, in which tour operators, tourist guides, tourist officers and their counterparts will take part. We will stage roadshows in Bhopal, Bengaluru, Ranchi, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Chennai. One roadshow has already been organised in Pune. The state government is also offering a slew of incentives for private investments in tourism development, including allotment of land on priority basis and subsidy on hotel projects. Major hotel chains are in talks with us to set up projects in the state.
Connectivity
Though we have a strong Buddhist influence in Odisha, the state has not yet been included in the proposed sites of Buddhist Tourism circuits. The roadblock in promoting Odisha is its poor air connectivity. I have proposed to Air India (which provides services between Delhi-Bhubaneswar-Port Blair) that the route should be extended to Phuket to attract visitors from the region, especially Buddhist pilgrims from South Asia and South East Asia. Also, the state government has made a strong case before the railway authorities to reinstate the services of the IRCTC sponsored train, which earlier used to go to Odisha, so that the idea to look further east will be justified.