The government of Odisha is taking up major tourism projects with the participation of the private sector at Chilika lake and near Puri to draw more tourists to the State.
At a roadshow here on Thursday, UK Pati, Deputy Director of Odisha Tourism Department, said the domestic tourist arrivals during 2014-15 in the State had crossed 1 crore mark and the State was next only to West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh in attracting tourists.
The sector was registering 9.5 per cent growth every year. During the current financial year, the arrivals had crossed the 78-lakh mark by September.
He said the State was endowed with beautiful , safe beaches, ancient temples like Lord Jagannath temple at Puri and Konark Sun temple besides Chilika lake, the second biggest brackish water lake in the world.
He said the government had drawn up a master plan to develop Chilika lake as a big tourist draw and also Shamuka beach near Puri as a special tourism zone.
Bids will be invited from private sector for taking up these major projects and land was being acquired for the purpose, he added.
Buddhist heritage
He also spoke of the Buddhist heritage of Odisha comprising Ratnagiri-Lalitgiri-udayagiri-Langudi and Dhauli attracting tourists from other states and abroad.
The tourism department is also organising a number of festivals like Konark festival (December 1 to 5), international sand art festival (December 1 to 5), Parab tribal festival (November 16-18), Dhanu yatra festival (Dec-Jan), Rajarani music festival (January 18-20) and Mukteswar dance festival (January 14-16) to draw tourists from far and wide.
Prasanta Patnaik