The need to have more tourism co-operation between God’s Own Country and ‘India’s Best Kept Secret’ was reiterated as the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) hosted a road show here for Odisha Tourism.
There is so much scope to grow together as Kerala and Odisha have diverse products to offer tourists, said Vishal Kumar Deve, Commissioner-cum-Secretary of Odisha Toursim, who invited tourists and stakeholders of Kerala’s tourism industry to visit the coastal State with plenty of heritage and spiritual tourism locales.
He added that many of Odisha’s hotspots were among the country’s best, and that they were growing in popularity. Nirmal Chandra Mishra, Director, Tourism, said Odisha had undergone major transformation in the last two decades under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The State is one of the best administered, has low pollution levels, is safe and culturally rich. Tourism is a high-priority agenda for the State which saw 1.52 crore tourist footfalls in 2018.
Odisha offers heritage and Buddhist tourism and spiritual and eco-tourism. It has the largest number of tribal groups in India, numbering 62.
The peak tourist season of October to March is full of vibrant fairs and festivals, he added. Soon the State capital Bhubaneshwar will have air connectivity with Dubai and Singapore. Manub Majumdar, deputy secretary general, FICCI, briefed tour operators from Kerala on the role of FICCI in promoting Odisha Tourism. He appealed to them to take active part in the third edition of the Odisha Travel Bazaar to be held in October 2019.
Several business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) meetings were held during the road show.
