Twenty most popular tourist destinations of the State would be identified in the State to ensure cleanliness and proper sanitation for the benefit of visitors.
Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi has asked departmental officials to chalk out a plan accordingly so that in the first phase the destinations are taken care of.
later, the other tourist spots would be included in the cleanliness drive. Padhi chaired a meeting of the State Tourism Advisory Committee meeting at the State Secretariat here on Thursday. Home Secretary Asit Tripathy, Forests and Environment Secretary Suresh Mohapatra and PCCF (Wild life) Sandeep Tripathy were present. Padhi directed officials to identify 20 most popular tourist spots in the first phase for this drive and gradually take up other spots in other phases.
It was noted that tourist arrival in the State reached an all-time high in 2017 with an inflow of 141.11 lakh visitors due to international flight operations. A strategy for attracting international chain hotels was discussed and decided at the meeting. The Chief Secretary wanted identification of sites in Bhubaneswar, Puri, Daringibadi, Korapur, Rayagada and other tourist destinations for allotment to the hoteliers.
It was also decided to organise road shows in top 10 countries, from where more tourists come to Odisha. The meeting further decided for starting e-visa facility at the Biju Pattnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar. Tourism Secretary Mona Sharma appraised that because of several tourism promotion initiatives, the tourist arrival during 2017 reached 141, 11, 243, marking a growth of around 9.23 per cent over the last year. The arrival of foreign tourist has gone up to 1 lakh, recording a growth of 31 per cent over last year. The arrival of domestic tourists also increased at around 9 per cent with 140.11-lakh arrival. The US, the UK, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, China, the Netherlands, Australia and CIS are the top 10 foreign countries from where more tourists came during 2017.
More numbers of domestic tourists came from West Bengal, Maharashtra, MP, UP, AP, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Uttarakhand.
Meanwhile, around 30 ecotourism spots have been developed. Photography in the tribal museum has also been allowed. The OTDC has developed seven promotional films about Odisha tourism that are being widely displayed both inland and abroad. Thirty-seven tourism projects involving private sector investment has been approved through a single-window mechanism during last few years. Out of this, 12 projects with investment proposals of Rs 585 crore have been cleared in 2017.
The infrastructure in the Shamuka project in Puri has been laid; and the project is now ready for allocation to private players.