KENDRAPARA: Violence in West Bengal and other states over Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is likely to take a toll on inflow of tourists to Bhitarkanika National Park and other places in Kendrapara district.
Several trains from West Bengal to Odisha have been cancelled, which is likely to affect tourism during the peak season, said Sanghamitra Jena, a tour operator.“Recently, the USA and Canada have issued an advisory to their citizens asking them to avoid non-essential travel to the North East in view of the ongoing protests against CAA. Many overseas tourists combine Odisha and North East for their visits. The advisory will have an adverse impact on tourist flow to our State,” she said.
Saroj Das, another tour operator from Kendrapara said violence in West Bengal will affect tourism in famous Buddhist sites of Lalitgiri, Ratnagiri, Langudi, Udayagiri and Kaima in Jajpur and Bhitarkanika National Park in Kendrapada district as tourists prefer to visit these places from October to February.
“People from West Bengal are apprehensive about visiting Bhitarkanika due to cancellation of trains. Even people from other countries have been contacting us, worried about their holidays. They do not seem to realise that the problem is localised and the rest of the country is safe,” Das said.
Cancellation of trips to the park also has the private boat owners of Bhitarkanika worried. Bhagabat Behera, a boat owner from Jayanagar said he had renovated his vessel for `1 lakh a few months back. But the CAA development has dashed his hopes of making some quick bucks during the peak season.
DFO of Bhitarkanika National Park Bikash Ranjan Das said guest houses in the park were booked by tourists a few months back. “We hope they will come as we expect the situation to be normal in a few days,” he said.