Orissa fails to sell itself to tourists

BHUBANESWAR: The inbound tourist traffic to Orissa, both overseas and domestic, has hit a plateau in the last 10 years despite the State’s tremendous tourism potential. In contrast, neighbouring Andhra Pradesh has surged ahead with an inflow of 3,23,000 foreign tourists and 155 lakh domestic tourists in 2010.   “Though Orissa has a vast bouquet of tourist products and draws, the tourist arrivals pale in comparison to neighbouring AP. Orissa attracts barely 40,000 foreign tourists every year and the figure has remained more or less stagnant over the past 10 years,” said J K Mohanty, president, Hotel & Restaurant  Association of Orissa (HRAO). He was speaking at the workshop ‘Tourism: Driving Force of State Economy’, organised by HRAO in association with State Tourism here on Sunday. Lack of an international airport and a land bank, poor publicity, inordinate delay in allotment of land for setting up hotels coupled with delay in finalisation of the proposed tourism policy are major hindrances to development of the tourism sector, he said. In order to compete with AP, Orissa needs ` 3,000 crore investment on creation of hotel accommodation, HRAO said. Tourism Minister Prafulla Samal said the State Government would soon initiate steps for earmarking land for creation of a land bank. The land bank will be used for developing future tourism infrastructure.  On air connectivity, Forest and Environment Minister and former Tourism minister Debi Prasad Mishra said measures were being taken to develop Biju Patnaik Airport into an international one. “Orissa has 17 airstrips. We have requested the Centre to assist in the development of at least five airstrips for increasing connectivity to hinterland,” Mishra said. He said the Government was trying to make more budgetary allocations for hard-selling Orissa to tourists as well as developing eco-tourism, tribal and wildlife tourism. Rajya Sabha member Pyarimohan Mohapatra asked the HRAO to lay stress on creation of affordable hotel rooms for domestic tourists besides concentrating on high-end tourists.