Bhubaneswar: MAYFAIR Hotels & Resorts Exectuive Director Souvagya Mohapatra urges Odisha Govt to focus on creating new tourism destinations, to promote CHILIKA as a world tourism destination. He said this while addressing the 3rd editon of
ODISHA TRAVEL BAZAR
Full text of speech of MAYFAIR Hotels & Resorts ED Souvagya Mohapatra
• Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha
• Hon’ble Minister Tourism of Odisha
• Respected Chief Secretary, Govt. of Odisha
• Respected Secretary Tourism, Govt. of Odisha
• Respected Director Tourism, Govt. of Odisha
• Respected Dr. Jyotsna Suri
• Respected Shri J. K. Mohanty
• Distinguished Tour Operators, Medias, Ladies and Gentlemen
This is the 3rd year in a row that the Tourism Department, Govt. of Odisha in collaboration with FICCI is organizing Odisha Travel Bazar. With the excellent response received during last two Travel Bazars, we are confident that the present Travel Bazar would also be successful.
The Govt. of Odisha under the leadership of our Hon’ble Chief Minister has created a very conducive Investment Friendly atmosphere which is providing much needed boost to Tourism & Hospitality Industry. Recent approvals by the Govt. for land allotment for Tourism projects, Hotel Projects & Convention Center will put Odisha at par with other States of our country.
The efforts of Tourism Department over the years have been great & results are now visible. In true sense, The Odisha – India’s Best Kept Secrets are now being unfolded. In last couple of months, the Tourism Department in partnership with FICCI has conducted seven Road Shows highlighting the Tourism potential & product of the state at major Indian cities. With these Road Shows we were not only able to promote Odisha but in great way able to attract the tourists post FANI. I would like to Congratulate Hon’ble CM & Govt. of Odisha for a tremendous job done for recovering the FANI affected areas.
While having done a great job in domestic Roadshows, now we need to look at conducting the Roadshows at the countries which are closer to Odisha such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Srilanka etc. These countries are having great potential and moreover we have lot of similarity in-terms of culture and heritage. We need to look at having air connectivity with these countries in order to take this forward.
I congratulate Govt. of Odisha to make Jharsuguda Airport operational which is doing extremely well and helping us to promote tourism in Western Odisha. Similarly now the time has come to make Jeypore and Rourkela airports to be operational under UDAN scheme.
I have been emphasizing that, we need to focus on creating new tourism destinations once at a time. It is time for us to promote CHILIKA as a world tourism destination and bring substantial changes in terms of tourism infrastructure and investments. I would request Govt. of Odisha to give a thought to this. Afterwards we may move onto the other destinations such as Bhitarkanika, Talsari etc.
Government is already doing a great job in terms of marketing through social Medias for various tourism products; we should also put the equal effort to aggressively market the festivals such as Konark Dance Festival, Dhauli /Khandagiri Mahotsav, Mukteswar Dance Festival etc.
New segments such as MICE, Wedding, Ecotourism, Wellness & Sports Tourism have great potential to grow and bring meaningful benefits. I thank Govt for taking initiative for introducing water sports and house boats facilities.
The hospitality & tourism fraternity of Odisha, who are also the partners of the Tourism Department, have majorly contributed in highlighting the tourism potential of the state. Due to our sincere efforts with the support of Govt. of Odisha, the 50th Golden Jubilee Convention of FHRAI took place at Bhubaneswar in 2015, followed by Annual Convention of HPMF in 2016 & IATO Convention took place in 2017. All these National events were widely publicized in International & National media. The perception about Odisha started changing & the state has been portrayed & accepted as a very clean, green & safe place for Tourists.
I once again welcome the Tour Operators from across the country to OTB 2019 and wishing them all the success.
I on behalf of FICCI, FHRAI, HRAEI, HRAO and MAYFAIR congratulate and thank the Govt. of Odisha to have brought the State of Odisha to a different level where we are now comparable with the best tourism States of India.
Namaskar !!!
Vande Utkal Janani & Jai Hind.
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