The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has urged the Odisha Government to develop a Buddhist Circuit in the State and make it a unique selling point (USP).
Addressing a workshop titled ‘Ushering in a new dawn for Odisha Tourism’ organised by the State Council of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in collaboration with the Tourism Department here on Friday, UNWTO permanent representative MP Bezbaruah said, “For the development of the tourism sector in the State, the Government should develop heritage circuits in different locations in consultation with different stakeholders including investors. As the State is rich in Buddhist heritage and there is also a tremendous potential in this sector in the international market, the State should develop a Buddhist heritage circuit and make it as its unique selling point (USP).”
Millions of tourists from countries like Japan, Myanmar and Thailand are travelling to other countries only to explore the Buddhist heritage. Odisha should not only promote its Buddhist heritage products, it should also develop direct air connectivity to those countries so that the tourists can directly fly to the State, he said.Tourism & Culture Commissioner-cum-Secretary Arvind Padhee, who chaired the meeting, said the State has a Tourism Policy-2013 and is also going to have a new resolution on IPR-2014 (Industrial Policy Resolution) again, the draft of which has been already formulated.
“From our preliminary observations, we have found that thinking only about big projects is one of the major bottlenecks as execution becomes difficult due to capacity constraints. So, we have to work on smaller and durable things first, then only we can go for big projects,” Dr Padhee said.He said his department in association with IPICOl is going to have a scheme to make our tourist spots clean and safe, “We have a lot of properties under the department, which we are failing to manage effectively like a business. So, we are looking for partnerships which will help us in managing them effectively without harming the image of the State and country,” he said.
Dr Padhee said Odisha attracted 90 lakh domestic and 65,000 foreign tourists last year, but there is potential to increase the tourists’ flow further.FICCI State Council Chairman Subhrakant Panda said, “Our intention is to bring all players together, collaborate with each of them to ensure that the State truly harnesses its tourism potential and the sector becomes an engine for socioeconomic progress for the State.”
According to Government statistics, Odisha’s share in domestic tourism is just 0.97 per cent, and for foreign tourists it is even worse at 0.31 per cent putting the State at 18th and 20th place, respectively, among the Indian States.