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Tourist inflow into State on the rise

BHUBANESWAR: Controversies such as manhandling of foreign tourists near Konark temple and Jagannath temple at Puri seemed to have not made much of a difference to the tourist inflow into Orissa during 2007-08 that went up by 15.5 per cent compared to its previous year.

As per the statistics on tourists released by the Department of Tourism here on Saturday, as high a figure as 62,53,897 visitors came to the State last fiscal, of whom 43,311 were foreign sightseers.

“Natures beauty, unique temple architecture, long coastline, sanctuary like Similipal, green lagoon Chilika and mangrove forest of Bhitarankanika have attracted tourists from across all corners of the country as well as outside,” State Tourism Minister Debi Mishra said.

Inflow of foreign tourists to the State was estimated at an all-time high record last fiscal. During the year 2006-07, 39407 visitors from foreign countries stepped in the State while the number of total tourists was around 54 lakh.

There has been a consistent rise in tourist inflow into the State since 2002. During last five years, the State witnessed 81.14 per cent growth in the inflow.

The reason for increase in tourist inflow can be attributed to improvement in air connectivity with the capital city of Bhubaneswar. In 2007, about 2.02 lakh tourists entered the State using flight services, which was 104.44 per cent higher than of 2006 figure. Similarly, there was a sizeable growth in volume of tourists using railway services. While 50.23 lakh people came by trains in 2007, the number was 44.29 lakh in 2006. The growth was estimated at 13.41 per cent. Moreover, 1.34 per cent growth was recorded in tourists who used road connectivity.

As many as 450 new hotels were established in last eight years. In 1998, there were about 684 hotels in the State.

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