Emerging Destination award for Odisha Tourism

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Tourism was recently accorded the best ‘Emerging Destination’ award in New Delhi. The award was given by Travel+Leisure India and South Asia, world’s leading travel and lifestyle magazine. Odisha Tourism got the award for its innovative tourism-related activities and the award was given on the basis of online polling by readers of the magazine. The award was presented by Union Secretary (Tourism) R K Khwaja to General Manager of Odisha Tourism Development Corporation(OTDC) M R Patnaik. Rajasthan, Kerala and Goa are some of the earlier recipients. “In the last one year, the Tourism Department has taken a number of steps to improve the tourism prospects in the State,” said Patnaik. As per official reports, while the foreign tourists’ arrival in the State has increased by around 25 per cent, it is 10 to 15 per cent as far as domestic tourists are concerned. The Department has been carrying out aggressive  advertisement campaigns in national and international media besides creation of new tourism infrastructure and upgradation of the existing infrastructure. Besides, Odisha Tourism has been participating in national and international-level tourism events to highlight the State’s tourism products. “An interesting feature in the last one year is convergence of tourism and culture. Almost all the cultural events in the State have been linked to tourism prospects. This is resulting in a visible rise of tourist inflow to the State. One of the examples is the Konark Festival which included a sand art festival,” Patnaik added.