OdishaLIVE Bureau
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik inaugurates three day Odisha Travel Bazaar 2018 in Temple City Bhubaneswar
Three day Odisha Travel Bazaar 2018 featuring more than 60 international tour operators was inaugurated in the city to boost Odisha tourism and popularise brand Odisha in the international stage.
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik announced that the state of Odisha is lavishly gifted with tourism treasures and the tourist arrival to the state has grown by over 9% as Eco Tourism, Buddhist tourism has gained momentum in the recent time. The Chief Minister added “The new airport at Jharsuguda will promote tourism in Western Odisha and World Cup Hockey will also bring cascading effects to the growth of Tourism in the state.
JK Mohanty, Chairman FICCI State Tourism Council and CMD, Swosti Group in his address said that Asian Athletics Championships and Hockey have proved as a major driver of Tourism in Odisha. Moreover, tour operators in Odisha are very reliable and the hoteliers are very much hospitable and this makes sense for the foreign tour operators to throng Odisha for their next batch of tavellers.
Vishal Dev, Secretary, Tourism, Sports and Youth Dept. Govt. of Odisha in his welcome address informed that Odisha Tourism has one of the finest policy in the country under the leadership of CM Naveen Patnaik. He reiterated that Odisha is a paradise for tourists with beaches to wild life, nature, Buddhist circuits and Eco – tourism all enclosed in a single destination. The Secretary further informed that from the previous year’s 45 to 60this year, the foreign tour operators have grown in number and hence the B2B and B2G meetings will be very meaningful. Lastly he invited the delegates to visit Odisha again during Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2018.
Deleopment Commissioner cum Additional Chief Secretary to the Govt. Mr. R. Balakrishnan stressed the fact that Odisha is indeed India’s Best Kept Secret. It is a secret in many dimensions with Diverse Geography, Culture, Tribal Communities and lot of wonders from Eco Tour point of view. He further informed that Bhubaneswar is not only a smartest city of the country, rather it happens to be one of the ancient cities of the country. Moreover, the state successfully hosted the Asian Athletics Championships and now we are ready to host the Men’s Hockey World CUp 2018.
Minister of Tourism, Culture and Odisha Language and Literature Mr. Ashok Chandra Panda while welcoming the delegates to Odisha Travel Bazaar 2018 announced “We shall push this enthusiastic response on OTB forward.” He informed that OTB is a unique and a very highly focused event to promote Odisha Tourism where 1800 B2B meetings are scheduled this year in comparison to 1300 last year. The Minister further stated that “Our constant effort is to put Odisha as one of the preferred destinations. We have achieved good results in the direction in the couple of years where the Govt. has spent over 400 Crores to update Tourism infrastructure across Odisha.
Tourism Director Ms. Archana Patnaik invited the international tour operators to witness Odisha first hand and see for themselves the untouched treasures that would excite the visiting travellers to come to Odisha and then proposed the Vote of thanks. The marquee event Odisha Travel Bazaar OTB 2018 was attended by the delegates from foreign locales like US, UK, Thailand, Germany, Switzerland to name a few. The event saw the participation of Policy Makers, Bureaucrats, Media, General Public, Tourism Dept. Officials, other stakeholders, Hoteliers and domestic tour operators as well.
