Bhubaneswar: Tall claims of the state government about boosting tourism in the state has fallen flat as many visitors from abroad seem to be turning away from the famous Sun temple at Konark, if statistics revealed by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) against an RTI application is any indication.
The data claims that the total domestic as well as international tourist footfall to the ASI protected monument has declined in the last year.
The data suggested that against 6,443 foreign tourists visiting the site in 2017-18, only 5,477 paid their visits to the site in 2018-19. Similarly, the domestic tourists visiting the site also saw a downfall. While a total of 28,46,092 domestic travelers visited Konark in the last fiscal it saw 24,61,359 domestic tourists.
The overall visits of foreign as well as domestic tourists do not seem to have registered any visible growth in the last five years. In 2014-15, more tourists from abroad paid their visits to the Sun Temple as compared to 2018-19.
Lack of accommodation and other infrastructure lacuna are said to be the prime reasons why tourists from abroad are not considering it to be a potential destination.
The data furnished by the department suggested that except the year which marked the famous Nabakalebara most of the years the historical site struggles to get more than 6,500 foreign visitors.
According to the information furnished by the ministry of culture the earnings have also dipped in Konark due to lower collection of entry fees from the tourists visiting the site.
The ministry data also admits that the central funds to Odisha meant for conservation and maintenance for their 80 ASI protected monuments have also dipped in the last few years. The Centre in 2016-17 had given Rs 298.55 lakh which was reduced to Rs 690 lakh in 2017-19 and to Rs 590 lakh in 2018-19.