The world is a book, and those who do not travel read
only a page – Saint Augustine
Traveling is the way of life for most of us. This will
energise the inner strength as well as the soul. And Odisha is a rich hub for
tourists with its immense scenic beauty, nature and the strategically
geographical location. The state is endowed with promising tourism potential in
terms of tourism resources, income generation and employment generation; direct
as well as indirect. The sector contributes significantly to the economy, from
local to state level in terms of employment and income generation, foreign
exchange earnings and value addition for the State economy. The ratio of
indirect jobs to direct jobs in tourism sector is approximately 3:1. In Odisha,
tourism is a labour intensive sector. The sector contributes significantly to
the economy, from local to state level in terms of employment and income
generation, foreign exchange earnings and value addition for the State economy.
Odisha has a high intensity of overnight domestic tourism, with an average of
541 trips per 100 households, as compared to the all India average 418 trips
per 100 households as per National Council of Applied Economic Research, 2015
report.
Year-wise Tourist in Odisha (2007-2016)
Tourism Sector has grown considerably in recent years on account of
good infrastructure facilities, favourable government policies, improvement of
existing tourist locations, development of new tourist destinations and strong
growth of hotel and restaurant industry in the state.
The tourism department has adopted a multi-prong strategy to
promote tourism aggressively in the source market. During 2016-17, the tourist
arrival in the State was 129.19 lakh against 118.53 lakh in 2015-16 with a
growth rate of 8.99 percent over previous year. This steady increase in tourist
arrival is partly attributable to regular and extensive marketing.
Capital Spending in Tourist Infrastructure
The government is spending on infrastructure building of
tourist destinations. The development of tourist infrastructure include construction
of roads, public convenience centre, interpretation centre, wayside amenities
centre, Panthanivas, Panthashala, illumination, floating musical fountain etc.
at tourist points. The State Government has promoted the tourist infrastructure
development in the State with high priority by increasing the funds provision
from Rs 1,375 lakh in 2012-13 to Rs 7,593 lakh in 2016-17.
Tourist Destinations in Odisha
Odisha has 357 number of identified tourist destinations
located all over 30 districts of the State. Cuttack (28), Balasore (22),
Ganjam(22), Puri(21), Mayurbhanj(19) and Khorda (19) are the leading districts
of tourist destinations. The ‘Golden Triangle’ of Bhubaneswar-Puri-Konark is
the biggest tourist attraction. Puri, the shrine of Lord Jagannath, one of the
oldest pilgrimage centres, famous for the Car festival, attracts lakhs of
pilgrims round the year.
The world famous Sun Temple, a UNESCO heritage site at
Konark (12th century), and the temple city of Bhubaneswar (9th century) are
other major tourist attractions. The ‘Tri-Ratna Triangle’ comprising Lalitgiri,
Udayagiri and Ratnagiri is yet another attraction for the Budhists from eastern
countries. The Ashokan rock-inscriptions of 3rd Century BC at Dhauli where the
historic war of Kalinga was fought is testimony to the existence of strong
Buddhist tradition in Odisha. The sanctuaries and wildlife parks viz.
Bhitarkanika, Similipal National Park, Chandaka Elephant Reserve, Nandankanan
and Chilika Lake with migratory birds are some of the major natural tourist
attraction points of Odisha. Apart from those currently identified as tourist
attractions, there are several others in the state, particularly in western and
southern parts of the state that are yet to be developed for popular tourism
with adequate tourist infrastructure.
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