Post News Network, Bhubaneswar, March 11: The state of Orissa, which is famous for its rich culture and well known heritage sites, seems to have failed to attract foreign tourists in a way many other Indian states have. Most of the foreign tourists who visit India now prefer to visit other parts of this culturally-rich country.
According to the Union tourism ministry, Orissa is not among the top 15 ports of call where foreigners like to visit. The data released by the ministry Wednesday said that the country witnessed foreign tourist arrivals of around 7.61 lakh in the month of February this year against 7.58 lakh in the previous year.
According to the ministry the top 15 ports of call for foreign tourist include, Delhi Airport (33%), Mumbai Airport (18.5%), Chennai Airport (7.6%), Haridaspur Land Check Post (5.6%), Bengaluru Airport (5.5%), Goa Airport (4.1%), Kolkata Airport (4%), Hyderabad Airport (2.7%), Cochin Airport (2.6%), Ahmedabad Airport (2.2%), Sonauli Check Post (1.9%), Gede Land Check Post (1.8%), Trivandrum Airport (1.5%), Amritsar Airport (1.5%) and Tiruchirapalli Airport (1.3%). Unfortunately, Orissa has failed to find a mention in the list of the top 15 destinations of the country.
Experts from the tourism sector have in the past blamed the government for anti-foreigner policies, which they say are stopping foreigners from visiting the state. Many blame the government for imposing many unnecessary restrictions on foreigners, which often discourage them from coming to Orissa. It may be recalled that Orissa Post Monday, March 2, 2015 carried a report on the existing restrictions on free movement of foreigners in some of the districts, which experts said were diverting foreign tourists to neighbouring states of West Bengal, Jharkhand etc.
The state government itself confessed during the Buddhist conclave last month that poor air connectivity to the state was proving to be a major hassle for the foreign tourists willing to travel to the state. The absence of international flights from the state capital of Orissa seems to have affected the mobility of foreign as well as domestic tourists. However, many believe that lack of air connectivity was not the only reason behind below-par arrival of foreign tourists.
Talking to Orissa Post, Himanshu Das, vice president, Travel Agents Association of Orissa (TAAO) said, “It is not just the problem of air connectivity. Airlines, like any other business, work on the principle of demand and supply and movement of passengers to and from any destination. The state or Central government cannot force airlines to ply to a state where there are not much takers for those. However, many foreigners opt not to visit the state as they can travel to other parts of the country with fewer hassles.”
Sandeep Behera, an IT professional from the city seconds Das. His British friends avoid Orissa, even when they visit other parts of India, only because there are, they feel, more than necessary restrictions on free travel. “I have some good friends in London. They are very keen to visit our country and have visited several times. But they seldom visit our state because of myriad reasons. They complain of poor connectivity to this coastal state. They also talk about some restrictions, which compel them to go through some formalities before visiting many tourist sites here,” Das said.