Bhubaneswar: Odisha tourism department kicked off ‘Odisha by Road’, a new tourism Initiative on the occasion of World Tourism Day 2020, here on Sunday.
The State tourism minister Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi flagged off a super bike rally consisting of 80 superbikes from 9 superbiker groups at Infocity Square launching the initiative. The rally covered 25 KM to culminate at Dhauli Shanti Stupa where a concluding ceremony was organized.
Speaking on the occasion, the minister said that the State has opened up the tourism sector for tourists. He welcomed all to visit Odisha, as all kind of precautionary measures have been taken for safety and security of visitors.
The minister highlighted about the award winning initiative of ecotourism nature camps run successfully for five years by the communities and which is in line with this year’s World Tourism Day theme of “Rural Tourism”.
The chief minister also emphasized through his message on revival initiatives of the government for tourism in the State.
“Odisha by Road” campaign was launched on this occasion through Kalinga Rides – Superbike Rally. This campaign aims to encourage tourists from within the state as well as from the neighboring states to travel to various tourist destinations in the State of Odisha through the excellent network of quality roads. Visits to the eco-tour nature camps, OTDC properties, and spending nights at such destinations is expected to give boost to the tourism sector in the hinterlands of the State and revive the economy.
On this occasion a campaign for promotion and popularization of Odia cuisine was announced through a chain of authentic Odia cuisine restaurants named “Nimantran” by OTDC. Odia cuisine as an aspect of Odia culture has so far been largely unexplored and the need for promotion of a variety of odia cuisine is being attended to by this initiative. This chain of restaurants will be managed by OTDC through a dedicated wing and a variety of menu of authentic odia cuisine drawn from various districts of Odisha will be catered in these restaurants.
In the initial phase restaurants at Bhubaneswar, Puri and Sambalpur will be launched, and three Food-on-Wheel mobile vans will be deployed in Bhubaneswar and Puri under this initiative.
Tourism secretary Vishal Kumar Dev, OTDC chairperson Srimayee Mishra, and director Sachin R Jadhav also graced the occasion.
