Puri beach carnival to be held for the first time from January 20 to 26

Puri beach carnival, on the lines of Goa Carnival, to be held for the first time from January 20 to 26. Undoubtedly, Puri is fast changing into a cultural destination from being just a beach paradise.The Puri beach carnival would offer a fete of art, music, theatre, poetry and many more.
The event will be a week-long affair of fun and frolic and will be organised on the entire stretch of the beach from Hotel Mayfair to Swargadwar.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 7 January 2017.

The carnival will be hosted by Odisha tourism, Puri district administration and an event management company, it will start with a parade, where local communities will take part in their traditional outfits. Various stakeholders of the Puri tourism industry, including hoteliers, restaurant owners and tourist guides, will don colorful attires at the event. Tourists will also be encouraged to join the carnival procession.
There will also be a sand art exhibition by Sudarsan Pattnaik will be the highlight of the event and, also, beach and adventure sports like beach karate, beach kabadi, volleyball, malkhamb, judo, para sailing. A tattoo workshop has been planned as well.
There will be a boat rally with around 50 decorated boats that will sail on the sea.
In addition, the Pallishree Mela, a sort of fair will also be there - beach vendors will showcase their artworks like stone carving, appliqué work, woodcarving, mask making and palm leaf engraving. And then, of course, there will be plenty of seafood.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Tampara wetland, a tourist spot in Ganjam district, to get a facelift

Tampara wetland near Chatrapur in Ganjam district on NH-5 was inaugurated as a tourist spot on March 22, 2006. It is slated to get a facelift soon. The 5.8 km-long and 670 metre-wide wetland is used for water sports and boating and is under the management of the department of tourism but, it was badly damaged during the October 2013 Phailin cyclone.
It will now be developed under the 'Swadesh Darshan Scheme' with financial assistance amounting Rs 33.44 crore from the Union government.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 13 October 2016.

As a part of this scheme, roads, a large jetty, water park, enhancement of water sports, eco cottage, tourist reception center, solid waste management, solar street lighting, and small solar lights are to be developed. Work will be executed by the Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC).
Two floating jetty with platform, two water scooters, six paddleboats, and seven rowing boats were damaged during the Phailin cyclone which also destroyed 22 decorative fibre electric light posts, ladies and gents static toilets, 20KV sub-stations, 5 life jackets kept inside a room, furniture, tents. All this happened more than three years ago.
Incidentally, the Tampara lake has been attracting a fair number of visitors and tourists as follows -
- 50,104 tourists in 2015
- 38,670 in 2014
- 29,920 in 2013
- 29,108 in 2012
- 28,537 in 2011
- 27,425 in 2010
- 26,755 in 2009
- 26,230 in 2008


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Odisha to get a boost in tourism with funds from the center

Tourism in the coastal circuit of Odisha to get a boost since the state is all set to get Rs 76.5 crore under Centre's Swadesh Darshan scheme. Out of this amount, about Rs 15.3 crore has already been released in the first installment.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 8 October 2016.

These funds have been sanctioned for infrastructure growth and development of beaches in Gopalpur, Tampara, Barakul and Satapada. The objective is to develop coastal sites so that they can attract more tourists to the state. Once amenities are improved at various tourist spots on the coastline, the benefit will go to other nearby areas as well.
The improvements will cover roads and, water sports, jetty, water park, solar street lighting, floating restaurants will be developed in these area apart from tourist reception centers. In addition, a sand art and maritime museum will come up at Gopalpur as also a solid waste management and sewerage treatment plant. Gopalpur is one of the favorite spots for tourists.


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Foreign tourists give Puri a miss - drop in arrivals a matter of concern

Odisha is faced with a problem of drop in arrival of foreign tourists. Apparently, big-ticket events such as Nabakalebar of the Trinity in Puri is unable to attract foreign tourists to the state in expected numbers. It seems the foreign tourist footfall has declined in 2015, when the Nabakalebar was held, as compared to the previous year.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 29 May 2016.

As per statistics, a total of 71,426 foreigners visited the state in 2014 and it came down to 66,971 the next year when Nabakalebar was organised with great fanfare. The festival was witnessed by around 23,000 foreigners - this is around 35 per cent of the total foreign tourist footfall of the year. This is in spite of tall claims made by the state government that they had showcased the event in a manner that it created a global appeal.
Last year, only 0.83 per cent of foreigners, who visited the country, came to Odisha and this does not paint a happy picture. There are accusations that the state lacked in setting up foreigner-friendly tourist amenities. Moreover, the government's imposition of restriction on the visit of foreigners and researchers to the state's tribal areas have also had a negative effect and have played spoilsport.
Many tour operators felt that the foreigners are keen on exploring areas beyond the Puri-Konark-Bhubaneswar triangle. Obviously, the tourism policy needs to be modified since the state has only been highlighting these three places. Tourists would want to explore other areas like the handloom clusters and tribal zones. But, there are no government packages for tourism in such areas.


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