post news network
Bhubaneswar, Sept 27: The city of temples witnessed a plethora of events organised by state tourism department to mark the occasion of World Tourism Day Tuesday.
Ashok Panda, minister of state for tourism and culture, took part in a rally that was organised by the department. Along with many folk artists, students from various educational institutes took part in the rally to promote tourism in Orissa.
Panda, who flagged-off the rally, said: “It is our responsibility to promote Orissa as one of the best tourist destinations. Among many other programmes, we are also organizing a water sport event near Dhauli.”
The state branch of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) also conducted a heritage walk at Udaygiri and Khandagiri hills. The participants and guests who took part talked about various issues that affect tourism in the state.
Later in the afternoon, a seven day long food festival was inaugurated at the Exhibition Ground. Many prominent hotels and restaurants based out of Bhubaneswar and other regions of the state took part in the fest by setting up their stalls. They served not only Indian food, but the customers were also delighted to find Thai, Italian, Continental and Chinese in these stalls.
“We are getting an opportunity to taste food items served in some of the famous luxurious hotels and restaurants. The Thai food that I had today was absolutely amazing,” said Rohit Singh, a visitor at the festival.
Despite the rain, youngsters enthusiastically took part in the water sport event at Ganesh Ghat of Daya River near Dhuali. Kayaking and rafting were some of the sports that took place on the occasion.