Odisha tourism is planning to start houseboat operations in Chilika Lake and Bhitarkanika National Park along with surfing in Puri.
Tourism Secretary Vishal Dev informed that the Tourism Advisory Committee of the state government has recently approved a slew of activities to attract visitors to the state.
“The houseboats would be run by private operators on an operation-and-management basis while the annual festival at Puri will be organised in association with the Surfing Federation of India,” he said.
Chief Secretary A K Tripathy has asked the tourism department to focus on the development of destinations in Odisha and promotion of the state as an attractive getaway.
In addition to this, the Tourism Secretary also mentioned that 9 tourism circuits and 13 destinations will be selected in different parts of the state, which will be developed under new tourism promotion activities.
The major circuits in India will include Rambha tourism cluster, Gandhi Circuit, Kantilo Cluster, Sun City Konark, Samuka Beach, Buddhist Circuit, Konark Marine Drive-Eco Retreat, Daringibadi, starting houseboat operation at various places, surfing festival at Puri and Dak Bungalow trail in Odisha.
To promote Odisha as an attractive tourist destination, it has been decided to organise road shows in Chennai, Ahmadabad, Varanasi, Raipur, Surat and Jaipur. Recently road shows were already held at Delhi, Kochi, Kolkata, Guwahati, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. It was also decided to organise road shows at Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Berlin and Jakarta to attract investment in the tourism sector, informed Dev.
