Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government is going to formulate a policy to develop the state as the preferred wedding destination in the country, Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida said here Saturday.
Addressing media persons here, Parida, who is in charge of the Tourism department, said Odisha has beautiful beaches, hills, mountains, temples, coastline and many more to offer to tourists.
The government is now making efforts to promote the sites as destination wedding venues, which will boost the economy of the people and the state, she said.
Parida said that the state will very soon roll out Odisha’s wedding destination policy with the motto ‘Wed in Odisha’. Necessary infrastructure including hotels will be created to promote destination weddings, she added.
“Odisha has beautiful temples, which can be converted as destination weddings because many youths, nowadays, are planning to conduct their wedding in temples. So, we will identify the possible temples which can be promoted for destination weddings,” the DyCM said.
The government plans to roll out a homestay policy and an adventure sports policy, both of which will create numerous entrepreneurial opportunities in the state, she said.
Parida said that the state Tourism department in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) will organise the 6th edition of the Odisha Travel Bazaar from February 24 to 27 here.
The primary objective of Odisha Travel Bazaar 2025 is to aggressively promote Odisha’s tourist destinations to domestic and international markets.
Approximately 100 domestic tour operators from over 30 cities across India and more than 30 foreign tour operators from 17 countries, including Australia, the UK, Germany, Belgium, South Africa, Spain, and Singapore, will participate in the event, Parida said.
The event is a flagship buyer-seller meet, which will bring together national and international travel and tour operators, destination management companies (DMCs), and sellers from Odisha, said Tourism secretary Balwant Singh.
The event will focus on B2B meetings between 70 sellers from Odisha’s tourism sector and domestic tour operators (DTOs) and foreign tour operators (FTOs), followed by familiarisation trips to key tourism destinations such as Bhitarkanika, Raghurajpur, Puri-Konark, and the diamond triangle, he said.
PTI
