Bhubaneswar: The land of serenity and beauty Odisha is all set to celebrate ‘World Tourism Day’ with the enthusiastic participation of tourists and locals here, Friday. Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) has scheduled various programmes including a ‘tourism walk’ from Master Canteen to the Exhibition Ground in the capital city.
Approximately 1,500 tourism enthusiasts are slated to join the mega event. Interacting with Orissa POST, OTDC official Ratikant Patnaik said, “The walk is organised by OTDC and it will have general public, members of the Hotel and Restaurant Association, IITM, IHM and Tours and Travels association. It will be flagged off by Tourism and Odia Language, Literature and Culture minister Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi. The Tourism Department will also hold a food festival at IDCO Exhibition Ground. A cultural evening is also planned at Rabindra Mandap later in the day.”
Ratikant Patnaik added, “Footfall in tourism has increased by eight per cent since last year. Tourists from neighbouring states like West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and countries like UK, Europe and USA are visiting Odisha more often.”
On the eve of ‘World Tourism Day’, chairman of Hotel and Restaurant Association of Odisha (HRA) and IATO, Eastern Region JK Mohanty said that the day is celebrated all over the world with pomp and gaiety to recognise the importance of tourists in the society.
JK Mohanty said that tourism should be given more importance than any other sector or industry as in this business ‘we do not have to lose any minerals, metal goods, commodities, natural resources or anything to gain foreign exchange as well as Indian currency’. He pointed out that, the industry is highly labour oriented and can give maximum employment opportunities to the people.
Although the Ministry of Tourism and the state government are trying to improve the scenario in tourism, the country loses a lot of foreign exchange due to Indians preferring global destinations. Indian tourists are approximately spending Rs 9,000 crores per year to travel to foreign countries. Countries like Thailand, Maldives, Dubai, Japan and Australia are trying to lure Indian tourists. In fact, India is one of the top 10 market source for tourist destinations of Southeast Asia.
“As far as Odisha in concerned, even though the Odisha has a huge tourism potential, compared with its neighbouring states, it has the least tourist traffic in eastern India with the lowest number of star category hotels. We request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to enhance connectivity in Jeypore under the UDAN scheme,” said JK Mohanty.
He also emphasised on the need to have a standard convention centre with all modern amenities and state-of-the-art architecture to attract convention tourism from different countries. Further, although BPIA has been declared an international airport, it doesn’t have any international connection except to the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.
PNN