Bhubaneswar: The Wildlife Wing of Forest department with the support of Odisha Tourism has started training and capacity building of managers of different ecotourism destinations in the state on Covid management. The ecotourism model of Odisha has received applauds from different corners of India and abroad being the only state having community concept of ecotourism. More than 600 community members are managing these properties and hospitality experts are engaged for regular training and monitoring. Around 60 per cent community members are rural women. Presently, seven eco-tour properties in districts like Nuapada, Koraput and Sundargarh among others are under construction.
However, due to the pandemic since March all eco-tour properties have been kept closed and now Odisha Ecotourism has started training of managers and community members on different aspects of COVID management before opening. As such since launching of Odisha Ecotourism in 2016, booking is through online portal ecotourodisha.com, cash booking or on-spot booking is very minimal restricted to off-season only as during winters most of the destinations remain booked in advance.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Wildlife, HS Upadhyay said, “We are trying to benchmark our COVID management performance in the country. We have started training of managers and community members for handling the pandemic situation successfully. We want all our community members to be well equipped on COVID protocols during and post COVID, and our ecotourism properties will perform effectively and perfectly as it has been till date. We are following a multidimensional approach, our primary objective is to restrict further transmission of COVID-19 when our nature camps open and on the other way there will be excellent service to visitors visiting our destinations. Training community members on different aspects of sanitisation and hygiene will also go a long way for managing the nature camps properly. We are also under process of equipping all nature camps with sanitisation equipments and safeguards. This year we are also prepared for starting many new ecotourism initiatives in the state.”
Director Tourism Sachin Ramchandra Jadhav said, “As Odisha’s tourism and hospitality sector opens up, community-managed ecotourism camps will play a central role in our revival efforts, winning tourists’ confidence, hearts and minds.”