Maintaining that the Indian hospitality and tourism industry is the third largest in the world, Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma on Friday said the Union Government has set a target to share at least one per cent of world tourism in next three to five years.
“To achieve the one per cent target, we need better infrastructure and for which we have to take the whole country together and understand the tourism potentiality,” said Sharma.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the 50th annual convention of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) here Sharma said the economy policies and infrastructures are not ready at present to meet the target, adding that there is need of 3 lakh classified hotel rooms in the country by 2020 from the present 80,000 rooms.
“We believe that tourism cannot be a Government’s job alone. All the stakeholders, including the hotel industries will have to cooperate to boost the sector that would generate more employment,” said Sharma.
He also said the Government is focusing on medical and wellness tourism.
Attending the event as the chief guest Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said Odisha has immense tourism potential which needs to be explored.
“Odisha offers tremendous scope for tourism development. My Government will provide all facilities to promote and market Odisha as a preferred destination for tourists. I would urge you to take advantage of all this and exploit this fresh potential,” appealed Patnaik.
He said Buddhism in Odisha is as old as the religion itself.
“It was only after 1986, major Buddhist sites of Odisha like lalitgiri, languri and Udaygiri having many monuments likes stupas, chaityas and viharas were discovered. The Buddhist sites have a huge potential for promotion of tourism as well as to carry on research activities. The State Government will continue its efforts to attract more tourists to these sites,” said the Chief Minister.
Patnaik said since tourism industry is an excellent employment multiplier, the Government has taken tourism as a priority sector for economic growth.
Among others, Union Minister Jual Oram, State Ministers Ashok Panda, Debi Prasad Mishra, Chief Secretary GC Pati, FHRAI president TS Walia and Dilip Ray spoke.