Bhubaneswar: Odisha will develop 9 tourist circuits and 13 destinations in different parts of the State with a view to promote destination tourism and domestic tourism.
The State tourism secretary, Vishal Dev, said that the major destinations that would be developed are Rambha tourist cluster, Kantilo cluster, Gandhi circuit, Sun City Konark, Budhist circuit, Daringbadi complex, Samuka beach, Konark marine drive eco-retreat, house boat operations in different places, surfing festival at Puri, and Dak Bunglow trail in Odisha.
The chief secretary, Asit Tripathy, while chairing the Tourism Advisory Committee meeting, here on Wednesday, directed the department to focus on development of tourism destination spots, and promotion of Odisha tourism in different parts of India to attract more domestic tourists.
Dev said that in the first phase house boat operation would be started in Chilika Lake and Bhitarkanika. Private operators would run the boats on operation and management basis. The surfing festival at Puri would be organised as an annual event in tie up with Surfing Federation of India.
The tourism secretary said that on an average 1.5 crore domestic and 1 lakh foreign tourists visit the State annually. He said road shows on Odisha tourism have been organised at Delhi, Kochi, Kolkata, Gwahati, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
The chief secretary suggested to have road shows in Surat, Varanasi, Jaipur, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Raipur. Road shows would be organised at Bangkok, Kulalampur, Bali and Jakarta to attract international tourists and private sector investments.
Forest principal secretary Mona Sharma, finance principal secretary AK Meena, revenue principal secretary Nikunja Bihari Dhal, home principal secretary Sanjeev Chopra and tourism director Sachin Rama Chandra Yadav were present.
