Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
INTRODUCTION : Tourism is a major growth engine for economic development, creation of employment and eradication of poverty. It has a major role to play in promoting faster, sustainable and inclusive economic growth of the State. It has better prospects for promoting pro-poor growth than many other sectors as it involves Hotel, Transport, Shopping, Food, Entertainment, Retail Shops, Hospitality Services, etc. which benefit all categories of people of the society. Across the world, the tourism industry is one of the largest generators of employment. It is estimated that in tourism sector, 78 jobs are created for every million rupee investment as compared to 45 in any manufacturing sector. 10.7% of the total work force in the world (approximately 212 million) is contributed today by the tourism industry. India is fast emerging as an important tourism destination in the world. The ‘Incredible India Campaign’ has attracted worldwide attention. Odisha, despite a strong cultural and religious heritage, varied natural attractions currently plays a comparatively small role in the World Tourism scene, although it has immense potential for tourism growth. The development of tourism is generally measured in terms of tourist arrival to the State. In last five years, the tourist arrival to the State is showing an increasing trend which is a result of aggressive publicity campaign undertaken by the State Tourism Department. TOURIST VISIT IN ODISHA DURING LAST 5 YEARS YEAR DOMESTIC FOREIGN G. TOTAL 2007-08 62,10,586 43,311 62,53,897 2008-09 64,82,213 42,303 65,24,516 2009-10 71,04,079 47,105 71,51,184 2010-11 77,70,741 53,212 78,23,953 2011-12 82,71,257 60,722 83,31,979 (Up to December) The present policy envisages an aggressive & proactive approach to achieve the growth potential by initiating identified policy measures, strategies, fund support, professional management input & establishing the required synergies through effective coordination, appropriate institutional arrangements, focused attention & improved performance of the sector.