Odisha to develop 9 tourist circuits, 13 destinations

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has decided to develop nine tourist circuits and 13 tourist destinations. The decision was taken at the Tourism Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting, chaired by Chief Secretary Asit Kumar Tripathy, here on Wednesday.

These would be developed as part of new tourism promotion activities, said Tourism secretary Vishal Kumar Dev.

The major circuits include Rambha tourism cluster, Kantilo cluster, Gandhi circuit, Sun City Konark, Budhist circuit, Daringibadi complex, Samuka Beach, Konark marine drive eco-retreat, house boat operations in different places, surfing festival at Puri and Dak Bungalow trail in Odisha.

“In the first phase, the house boats will be introduced in Chilika and Bhitarkanika. The boats will be run by private operators on operation and management basis,” said Dev.

The surfing festival at Puri would be organised in tieup with the Surfing Federation of India and would be made an annual event, he added.

The road shows on Odisha Tourism have been organised in Delhi, Kochi, Kolkata, Guwahati, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

The Chief Secretary also called for road shows in Chennai, Ahmadabad, Varanasi, Raipur, Surat and Jaipur.

Road shows would also be organised in Kulalampur, Bangkok, Barli and Jakarta to attract foreign tourists and private sector investment in the tourism sector, he added.

Around 1.5 crore domestic and one lakh foreign tourists visit Odisha each year.

(IANS)