"There are tremendous tourist potential in places like Chilika, Satapada in Puri district, Phulbani, Bhitarkanika and Tikarpada in Angul district, but there is lack of accommodation and basic infrastructure facilities at these places," said HRAO Chairman J K Mohanty.
The government should ask the collectors to identify 100 acres of land in each district which have tourist potential and give it to the tourism department for quick allotment to entrepreneurs for setting up of hotels, he added.
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Mohanty was speaking at Odisha Tourism Annual Conclave-2013 organised by HRAO in association with the state tourism department. He said, at present, hotels are mainly concentrated at around Bhubanesawar and Puri.
The association also suggested the tourism department to appoint a nodal officer who will be responsible for implementation of the recently announced tourism policy. It urged the state government to hand over all eco-tourism projects, bungalows of forest and environment department to the Odisha Forest Development Corporation (OFDC) or any other agency under the forest department to boost the forest or eco-wildlife tourism in the state.
HRAO urged the government to deploy tourist police at all important tourist locations of the state and lift curbs on visit by foreign tourists to the tribal areas.
Speaking on the occasion, Ashok Panda, MLA, Bhubaneswar (Ekamra) emphasized on having a cargo hub facility at the Bhubaneswar airport, which was recently accorded international tag. Panda said, Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik has taken a decision to construct a four lane road to connect Dhauligiri with Khandagiri, bypassing Bhubaneswar city, at a cost of Rs 50 crore. The state tourism minister, Maheswar Mohanty said, investments will be prioritised in developing beaches, Buddhist sites and golden triangle.