J K Mohanty, managing director, Swosti Group talks about the present projects in the company’s pipeline and the growing potential of Odisha as a tourism destination By Joy Roy Choudhury
What are the new areas being promoted by Swosti Travels?
Swosti Travels has recently launched exciting tour packages in new destinations in Odisha. Some of them are beach tours, tribal tours, heritage and cultural tours, adventure and wildlife tours, monument and temple tours, Buddhist India tours, textile and handicraft tours, special interest pilgrimage tours, medical value tours, spiritual tours and eco-tours.
As chairman of HRAO and IATO, Odisha Chapter, what new initiatives are you undertaking to promote the state?
We have been working with the state and central government towards a better understanding and coordination between the industry and the government to achieve a balanced growth in inbound tourism. HRAO and the state tourism department have jointly started the ‘Visit Odisha’ campaign within India and abroad. As far as safety of tourists is concerned the Odisha government had started the Tourist Police at Puri sea beach few years back but this has been discontinued. In view of the growing problems specially in Puri sea beach and other temple areas, we have proposed to the chief secretary of the government of Odisha to start a Tourist Police Wing under the Home Department with special training being provided to these police personnel.
How much has the new tourism policy released by the Odisha government benefited the industry?
Following our continuous effort and subsequent follow-ups with the state government, we have been able to bring out the most advanced and tourism friendly policy in the country to develop Odisha as one of the most preferred tourist destinations and to place it prominently on the domestic as well as international tourism map. Incentives have been incorporated into the new tourism policy which would produce huge inflow of investment into the tourism sector.
What is the status of the Odisha government’s plan to hold the Odisha Travel Mart?
We from the travel trade are in constant touch with the Odisha government to start the Odisha Travel Mart jointly with the state tourism department to promote Odisha directly and aggressively. Recently, the chief secretary of the government of Odisha called a meeting with the travel trade and assured the industry to start the Odisha Travel Mart soon.