Sambalpur: An eco retreat festival will be organised at Balbaspur near the left dyke area of Hirakud Dam in this district like last year from November 15.
This was stated by District Collector Subham Saxena to mediapersons. The eco retreat festival will continue for three and a half months till March 1.
It will have a host of facilities like water sports, sightseeing at the tourist destinations, 20 premium cottage suites, five Rajwadi cottage suites with three-star tent facilities.
Reception desk, a conference hall, restaurant, bar and other recreational facilities will also be available to the tourists, he said.
The event would help revive the tourism sector in the region which has been affected due to the pandemic, deputy director of Tourism department Hemant Kumar Pradhan said. Pradhan hoped that the event will witness a larger footfall of tourists than last year.
Pradhan said that the event was launched for the first time last year to help revive the tourism sector in the region reeling under the impact of the pandemic. The tourist footfall last year was quite good despite minimum publicity.
Around 40 percent of the cottages were booked while the consultancy agency earned good profits in water sports. The event attracted tourists in good numbers as they continued thronging the site for around three months.
It is expected that the tourist turnout will be more for this year’s eco-retreat as additional facilities like entertainment programmes have also been added to the event this year.
Six firms are participating in the tender conducted at the state level and will be finalised soon.
The works department, power department and the public health engineering departments have been asked to complete all the arrangements before opening of the event.
The state government will issue the necessary guidelines on the Covid norms to be followed at the eco-retreat fest.
Notably, the state government is laying stress on promotion of tourism by organising eco-retreats at various tourist destinations of the state.
People visiting the eco-retreat can enjoy a variety of events and activities including water sports at Hirakud dam reservoir, cycling, rifle shooting, para-motoring, kayaking, jet-skiing, fishing, Yoga, boat ride, ropeway and site-seeing trips to Samaleswari temple, leaning temple of Huma and nature trail to Debrigarh wildlife sanctuary as well as entertainment programmes during their period of stay in the eco-retreat.
PNN