The State’s share of foreign tourists is not even one per cent of the total tourist count of the country. This was revealed from the reply of Tourism and Culture Minister Ashok Panda’s reply to a question raised by MlA Dilip Ray in the Assembly on Wednesday.
The Minister informed that a total of 1,18,53,088 tourists visited the State during the year 2015. However, only 66,971 of them are from foreign countries, a notable fall in comparison to 2014. Panda further said while total 80,16,000 tourists visited various States of the country in 2015, but only 0.83 per cent of them came to Odisha.
While the State’s share of foreign tourists was .87 per cent in 2010, it had increased to .96 per cent in 2013 with 66,675 tourists. The foreign tourists’ count had further increased to 71,426 in 2014. The Minister said to draw more number of foreign tourists, the State Government is participating in various international fairs and organising road shows, international Buddhist conference and tourism festivals.
However, MlA Ray said Odisha has enough natural resources to attract tourists from other States and abroad. The State’s tourism sector as well as the economy would boost if the Government takes proper steps for wide-scale development and promotion of those resources, he suggested.
