BHUBANESWAR: In continuation of its efforts towards emerging as a leader in the tourism and hospitality sector, the State Government will host a two-day National Tourism Conference at the Marine Drive Eco Retreat from Thursday. The conference is organised in association with FICCI aims at building strategic Centre-State and inter-state partnerships for boosting sustainable tourism.
Announcing the schedule of the conference, Minister of State for Tourism and Culture Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi said Odisha Government has always emphasised that East and Northeast India, in particular, will greatly benefit from the best practices in cooperative federalism in tourism and hospitality.
Stating that high-spending tourists seek long stays and diverse experiences, the Minister said, “If we can jointly curate circuits and collaboratively devise strategies to refine tourism across inter-state borders, we will all win. The objective of this conference is to formulate such a shared vision.”
Secretary in the Tourism and Culture department Vishal Dev said the Government decided to host the conference at the Marine Drive Eco Retreat as it represents a textbook case of an experiential tourism project. “Nowhere in India one can imagine spending the night in such luxury in such proximity of the sea waters,” he said.Ten states have confirmed their participation so far. The Centre will be represented by Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel and Additional Director General of Tourism Rupinder Brar.
The second day will begin with morning activities followed by a visit to Jagannath temple.
Two key sessions on ‘Promoting India Globally through Centre-State Coordination’ and ‘Sustainable and Responsible Tourism Practices across India’ will be conducted, through which key action points will be extracted and summarised.