State fails to attract foreign tourists

Bhubaneswar: Pristine beaches, ancient temples and monuments, Buddhist sites, enchanting waterfalls and water bodies, lush green forests and eco-tourism sites — Odisha is a treasure trove that can leave any tourist spellbound.
Still, the state lags in attracting foreign tourists, though the footfall of domestic tourists after two years of the Covid pandemic is steadily growing this year.
Contrary to expectations that the inbound tourism, involving foreign tourists would see a boom in view of an improvement of Covid scenario in the country, their arrival in the state has been very discouraging.
The absence of foreign tourists in the state can well be felt and seen from a visit to Puri’s Chakra Tirtha (CT) Road, once known as the veritable paradise of foreign tourists.
Bulk of the foreign tourists visiting the state generally stay in Puri because of the beach.
“We badly miss the presence of foreign tourists along the CT Road near the beach. Most hotels along the CT Road used to be occupied by foreign tourists until a few years ago. Their footfall started dipping since 2018 and 2019, though international flights for some months in 2020 and 2021 were banned due to the pandemic,” said Srimanta Kumar Dash, owner of Santana Hotel on CT Road.
Experts said the government should make efforts to bring back foreign tourists to the state. “We have been seeing an encouraging trend in the arrival of domestic tourists after the pandemic. We need better international publicity to attract foreign tourists,” said Debasis Kumar, owner of Victoria Club Hotel in Puri.
Yugabrata Kar, an international tour operator, said better access to the tribal villages without restrictions and positioning Odisha as a destination for responsible tourism on the lines of Kerala can boost international inbound tourism. “We also need better budget-friendly accommodation at eco-tourism destinations,” Kar said.
The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Odisha (HRAO) said though foreign tourists have started visiting other states, they are not preferring to visit Odisha for many reasons.
“Though we have an international airport in Bhubaneswar, we do not have a single direct or connecting flight to any foreign country. Though international connectivity was started to Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok from Bhubaneswar a few years ago, it was discontinued, HRAO’s chairman and owner of Swosti Group of hotels,” J K Mohanty said.
HRAO requested the government to provide viability gap funding to airlines and facilitate connectivity between Bhubaneswar with Thailand, Malaysia, Dubai, Nepal, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Singapore. Mohanty said to attract huge investments to the tourism and hospitality sector, the government should offer investors soft loans, long-term financing, better infrastructure, land at special rates and quick clearances.