State sees surge in footfall of eco-tourists

BHUBANESWAR: LAST year, the footfall of tourists in the community-managed eco-tourism sites in the State has witnessed a surge. During 2019-2020, around 46,000 tourists had visited the eco-tourism sites as against 29,000 between 2018 and 2019. According to the Eco-Tour annual report 2019-2020-released by Forest Minister on Wednesday, the revenue generated from these projects also increased from Rs 5.61 crore in 2018-2019 to Rs 6.85 crore during 2019-2020. More than 50 per cent of the tourists were from the State itself. 

During last year, seven new eco-tourism destinations were created at Barehipani (Similipal), Chandipur, Chitrakonda, and Satiguda in Malkangiri district. Tourism sites have also been developed at Pine forest in Koraput, Patora dam in Nuapada district and at Tensa in Sundargarh. Among these, three locations including the one at Barehipani have been opened for online booking. After addition of these new properties, the total capacity of eco-tourism sites comes to 47,333 rooms to accommodate 1,010 eco-tourists per day. 

As part of State-level wildlife week celebration, Wildlife Orgnisation of Forest and Environment Department has released a pictorial coffee-table book titled, ‘Eco-Tour Odisha-The Gateway to Wild Odisha.’ It depicts the story of evolution of community-managed eco-tourism in the State, where 80 per cent of the revenue gets diverted back to the community. The book features detailed descriptions of 47 eco-tourism properties of the State.