Odisha tourism roadshow in Raipur to present "India's Best Kept Secret"
New Delhi : Director, Tourism of Odisha, Shri. Sachin Jadhav, IAS on Saturday led a delegation to its Raipur roadshow conducted in association with industry major FICCI.
The state’s Tourism Department’s present campaign has successfully concluded roadshows in 9 cities of India comprising of B2B networking meetings between travel agents, apart from select meetings with investors and brands looking to enter Odisha’s tourism and hospitality sector.
Director of Tourism has initiated the proceedings with a detailed presentation, by highlighting key tourism offerings of Odisha across segments such as heritage tourism, ecotourism, ethnic tourism, and spiritual tourism amongst others. The highlight of the presentation was Odisha Tourism’s recently launched signature tourism product called Marine Drive Eco-retreat which has already become a major hit among tourists. Mr Jadhav said, Marine Drive Eco-retreat is Eastern India’s first Glamping (Glamorous camping) project comprising of luxurious accommodation facilities, adventure activities, cultural performances, etc.
Odisha is steadily emerging as India’s most vibrant sporting destination, a key factor for enhancing the state’s global brand image and pushing up foreign tourist arrivals. "We are especially focusing on segments like ecotourism, ethnic and handicrafts tourism, besides capitalising on niche segments like heritage homestays and adventure tourism, so that more tourists can explore the unexplored parts of Odisha -- apart from the most popular destinations like Puri and Konark", Shri. Jadhav said.
The Tourism Department’s presentation highlighted key facets of Odisha’s tourism potential starting from stunning naturally endowed locations and sprawling biodiversity to significant monuments and unique art and craft. The Government has already expressed its intent to start new tourism products in the form of houseboat tourism, camping tourism, etc.
Odisha, which witnessed 1.5 crore tourist footfalls in 2018, hopes to see the numbers rise to over 2.5 crore in 2021. The state boasts some exciting tourist circuits including diverse wildlife tours across 18 protected areas and two national parks, an enigmatic Buddhist circuit, apart from the spiritually exhilarating Golden Triangle Heritage Circuit of Bhubaneswar–Puri–Konark.
Among the key initiatives of the Department of Tourism is its virtual tourism drive, centred on its award-winning website odishatourism.gov.in. Built on the Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) platform, its capabilities in stakeholder engagement, multimedia information management and analytics Odisha Tourism hopes to reach a wider national and global audience with greater accuracy, and attract larger numbers of medium and high spending tourists. The website offers a portal for travel agents and hoteliers to register and publish their Odisha packages.
Through the Raipur roadshow, Odisha hopes to drive up tourist inflow from the eastern region of India, inter-alia offering the closest beach destinations for vacationers. The improved air connectivity and the operationalisation of Jharsuguda airport last year promised to provide a boost to business activities besides tourism.
