Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Srikant Jena on Thursday urged his counterpart in the Union Tourism Ministry K Chiranjeevi and State Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to make the whole Odisha a tourist hub instead of adopting a location and circuit approach. He pointed out that the Planning Commission may be approached to release mega funds to bring this grand vision to a reality.
Speaking at a function to inaugurate the new premises of the Regional Centre of the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM) in the city, Jena said Odisha has innumerable attractions for tourists which makes a circuit-centric approach superfluous.
He also urged Dr Chiranjeevi to set up a Tourism University in the State by merging the Institute of Hotel Management and the IITTM. The university would take under its umbrella all tourism-related units in Odisha and cater to the needs of other States in the Eastern Region, he said.
The Chief Minister, who said tourism industry promotes inclusive growth, pointed out that every 1 million rupee spent in this sector generates 78 jobs while the manufacturing sector produces only 45 jobs for the same investment. He announced that the Food Craft Centre at Balangir would be upgraded to a full-fledged State Institute of Hotel Management and requested Dr Chiranjeevi to ensure permissions to allow admissions to the new institute from the 2013-14 academic year.
State Tourism Minister Maheswar Mohanty said the number of institutes churning out trained manpower is not able to meet the needs of the rapidly-growing industry.
Union Minister of State for Tourism Chiranjeevi said the focus now is on sustainable tourism and expressed the hope that a 1-billion tourist mark is very close.
He listed out the steps taken by the Union Government to attract international tourists with steps that include visa on arrival and focus on niche areas of tourism.
later, addressing a Press meet, Dr Chiranjeevi said the requests of the State Government are being considered positively.
Additional Director General of Union Tourism Ministry Usha Sharma provided statistics on the ongoing projects in the State and pointed out that more money could be considered only after the Utilisation Certificates of the money sent earlier have been provided.
In answer to a question, she said that no request from the State Government for funds for the Nabakalebar festival of lord Jagannath in 2015 has reached her so far.
The welcome address at the inaugural function was delivered by IITTM Director Prof Manjula Chaudhary and the vote of thanks was given by its Nodal Officer SK lenka.