Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
STRATEGY: a. Inter-Departmental Support: Tourism requires a strong multi modal approach. With this objective in view, the State government will synergize all the activities of different departments and stakeholders to achieve the overall objective. b. Statutory Regulatory Framework: Apart from the necessary statutory framework for policy coordination, there is utmost necessity to ensure synergy at the field level. To achieve the objectives, similar statutory framework is required at the implementation level, in the form of local tourism councils/ bodies. The policy aims at enhancing the value of tourist destination in the form of improving local sanitation, making the destination beautiful by enforcing uniform facade, removing cable clutters and checking encroachments etc. The policy aims at bringing synergy among the local bodies, police and public representatives to work in tandem, within a statutory regulatory frame work. The Tourism Advisory Committee (TAC) shall recommend to enforce these regulations from time to time. c. Development of Infrastructure: Development infrastructure in tourism sector is one of the critical components for developing tourism in the State. Government would strongly to provide an atmosphere & framework for private sector participation in infrastructure development to reinforce the efforts made by the Government in this regard. Both domestic & foreign private investment shall be encouraged to participate in joint venture or in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode for development of long term infrastructure in the tourism sector. 6 d. Land: Department of Tourism shall indentify & earmark suitable land parcels in important tourist locations for development of tourism projects. The detail land schedule reserved for the tourism projects shall be available in Departmental website which will be allotted to private sector investors through a transparent mechanism after studying techno-economic feasibility & employment generating potential of the concerned projects. e. Road Transport: Department of Tourism shall identify important state highways, roads connecting important tourist destination and recommend the appropriate department for widening, beautification & high-quality maintenance of these roads. The Government shall encourage private sector for providing tourist amenities centre like public convenience, parking, cafeteria, souvenir shop, medical facilities etc. alongside important roads. The State will encourage private sector investment for boosting the transport service for various categories of tourists. f. Air Connectivity: The State Government shall endeavour to have direct air connectivity to important cities and major tourist destinations of the country. State Government shall encourage developing small air strips inside the state on PPP mode. Thrust shall be on providing more international air linkage, to Bhubaneswar by alluring Airlines through underwriting of tickets/ incentives or any other mode as may be necessary to increase foreign tourist arrival in the State. g. Rail Connectivity: The State Government shall pursue with the Indian Railway for expansion of railway network inside the State especially to the important tourist destinations. Efforts shall also be made to pursue Ministry of Railway for providing more superfast / luxury/ special train to different important tourist destination of the State. The State shall encourage luxury trains in line of Palace-on-Wheels model in association with Indian Railway, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and other neighboring States. h. Quality Power Supply: Department of Tourism shall end eavour to ensure 24 X 365 power supply in important tourist destinations. The grid & Lilo line shall be strengthed to ensure quality power supply in important tourist destinations. 7 i. Civic Amenities: Highest priorities shall be accorded to ensure healthy & sanitary conditions in all important pilgrim centres & tourist locations beaches through direct intervention by the Tourism Department, Urban Development Department, Public Health Department, Local Bodies, Non-Government Organisations & Corporate Bodies. Beach cleaning authority will be created to oversee the cleanliness of major beaches. j. Accommodation: Efforts shall be made to encourage private sector investors to create Star category hotels, convention centres, heritage hotels, eco camps by granting different fiscal incentives, single window clearances facilities, marketing supports, media campaign etc. k. Eco-tourism: The State Government has created a eco-tourism cell under the Forest & Environment Department of the State Government. A separate eco-tourism policy has been launched for promotion of eco-tourism in the State. Eco-tourism shall be made more robust and popularized as an important means to promote tourism in the State considering its vast potential. l. Rural Tourism: The State Government shall identify model villages which are rich from the point of view of handicraft and handloom, rural life, social habits & culture. These villages shall be developed to model villages to provide unique experience to the tourist. m. Utilization of inspection bungalows and circuit houses & Government accommodations: Department of Tourism shall maintain an inventory of inspection bungalows, circuit house and other Government accommodations available under water resources, works, revenue, forest etc. and shall explore the possibility of developing them under PPP mode / any other mode for use of the tourist. n. Home Stay Facilities: Private house owners shall be encouraged to provide home stay facilities for the use of the tourist under bed and breakfast scheme. o. Ease of Doing Business: For speedy clearance of Tourism Projects single window clearance authority has been created which will issue deemed approvals as provided in Odisha Industries Facilitation Act, (OIFA) 2004. The Single Window Clearance Authority shall be made 8 more effective, robust and more investor friendly. Right to service has been implemented in the state and the Department of Tourism shall rigorously implement the Right to Service Act for quick clearance of the projects. p. Marketing & Promotion: Department of Tourism shall organize various tourism promotion events to attract tourists to the State. •••• The Department of Tourism shall participate in different leading national & international tourism fair and shall provide incentives to the tourism stakeholders to participate in international tourism events to increase tourists arrival in State. •••• Organize familiarization tours for leading tour operators, travel writers of the country and abroad to attract more foreign & domestic tourists. •••• Extensive outdoor marketing within the country & abroad which include signages in airports, branding of trains, hoardings in strategic locations etc. •••• Media campaign both in print & electronics within the country & abroad shall be done by the Government to attract more tourists to the State. •••• Brand ambassador will be appointed for strengthening the brand name of Odisha Tourism. q. Capacity Building: Capacity building in hospitality sector shall be the topmost priority to build highest form of professionalism to create a strong ambience of comfort, confidence and communication among the tourists. Department of Tourism shall encourage private sector investment in Tourism & Hospitality Sector Institutes for capacity building to ensure availability of more skilled manpower required in tourism sector. Efforts shall be made to synergize all government schemes and private sector initiatives to develop skill in Tourism & Hospitality sector. r. Public Awareness: The most important aspect of tourism development is to bring in the necessary behavioral and attitudinal change in the society to make it tourist friendly and create a strong receptive atmosphere. People’s participation through Panchayati Raj Institutions, Urban Local Bodies, Co-Ops and NGOs shall be encouraged for development of tourism and to create public awareness to achieve a broader goal of high quality tourist services. 9 s. Wayside Amenities: The Government has taken a policy decision to establish modern wayside amenities to provide quality services to the highway and roadside tourists. More wayside amenities shall be developed by synchronizing the activities of various Government Department such as Works, Transport, Forest and other concerned Departments. t. Right to Service: The State Government have implemented the Right to Service Act, 2012. The Department of Tourism have been brought under the Right to Service Act, which shall be rigorously implemented for timely clearances of all tourism projects. u. Buddhist & Heritage Tourism: The State of Odisha is known for its rich heritage. The State Government shall promote heritage tourism to propagate its rich culture and heritage among the people of the world. State Government shall promote Buddhist tourism in view of the historical significance of Buddhism in the State. Special Buddhist Circuit will be developed by linking all the Buddhist sites. v. Cruise Tourism: Considering the vast coastline, Chilika lake, long stretch of water bodies, lakes, there is vast scope for cruise tourism in the State. The State Government shall promote cruise tourism by bringing in modern cruises and technology. w. Religious Tourism: Religious tourism has vast potential in the State in view of the presence of historic temples and monuments which shall be developed in a big way in the State. x. MICE Tourism: The State houses major IT and ITES companies. The State shall promote meeting incentive conference and events tourism, to cater the need of multinational companies and NGOs. y. Knowledge Tourism: The State has become the knowledge hub of Eastern India. Many centres of higher learnings, university, institutions of national and international repute have come up in the State. Large number of students, intellectuals visit the State for acquiring knowledge. The State shall promote knowledge tourism and facilitate activities of all stakeholders. 10 z. Barrier-free Tourism: The State Government shall assiduously promote barrier-free tourism especially for differently-abled tourist. Incentives shall be provided to entrepreneurs / people for making innovation and setting innovative projects for barrier free tourism in the tourism sector.