Bhubaneswar, September 3: The Odisha Tourism Department held a virtual orientation programme for Local Tourism Promotion Councils (LTPCs) under the state’s Tourism Vision 2036-47, with Chief Secretary Anu Garg calling for greater focus on grassroots tourism development.
Garg urged district administrations to identify new tourist attractions, heritage sites, natural resources and homestays, while improving cleanliness, basic amenities, hospitality and infrastructure. She called for the development of 5-10 small tourism initiatives in each district under the “One District-Many Tourism Initiatives” approach to boost rural livelihoods, women, youth and MSMEs.
She also proposed a tourism ranking system among districts and directed officials to facilitate investment in hotels, homestays, tour services, guides, transport and tourism packages.
Tourism Commissioner and Secretary Balwant Singh outlined the Tourism Vision 2036-47, while Director Tourism Deepankar Mohapatra presented the proposed action plan. Discussions also covered tourism land banks, adventure tourism, ethnic tourism and infrastructure development.
