With Odisha having a large coastline and vast scope for cruise tourism, the Union Government has urged the State Government to develop the eastern State as a destination for cruise tourism.
The Union Ministry of Tourism has advised the Odisha Government to promote cruise tourism as this is a fast growing component of the leisure industry all over the world.
Union Secretary Tourism Vinod Zutshi in his letter to Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi said that the Union Government has formed a task force under the chairmanship of Union Secretary Tourism and has taken Union Secretary Shipping as co-chairman with several coastal States, including Odisha Tourism Secretary as its member, for development of cruise shipping in the country.
With the advice from the Centre, Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi has asked the Department of Tourism to quickly assess the requirement, so that the proposals can be sent at the earliest.
Principal Secretary Tourism, Gagan Kumar Dhal is charting out projects to develop coastal tourism, said sources.
Zutshi, who recently visited the State, feels that Odisha has got lots of potential in this front. With 480 km coastline, Odisha stands as one of the top most zones for beach, cruise and related tourism.
Zutshi admits that there are several constraints over cruise tourism and the task force will identify these problems and will try to sort out these ones to develop India as a destination as well as source market for the state-of-the-art infrastructure and appropriate marketing strategy. It will develop supporting infrastructure for dedicated cruise berths comparable to international standards.
Zutshi said that development of certain coastal cities into world class tourist destinations is on cards.
As the Union Ministry of Tourism is providing financial assistance to the State Governments under “Swadesh Darshan” and “Coastal Circuit” by providing viability gap funding for projects in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode under large Revenue Generating (lRG) Scheme, Odisha will also benefit from such initiatives, he said.
Currently, Odisha is making out projects for Gopalpur, Puri, Chandipur, Talsari under the Coastal Circuit Development Programme. With the Ministry of Shipping considering a proposal to develop Paradip as a “Smart City” under ambitious Sagarmala Programme, cruise shipping facilities can be developed in the port city.
In Odisha there is ample scope for cruise tourism in Gopalpur-Paradip-Dhamra sector, which can be identified and entertainment zones, restaurants, hotels, gymnasium, bars and shopping malls can be developed to facilitate the tourists.