BHUBANESWAR: The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Odisha (HRAO) on Sunday submitted a series of recommendations to the state government for making Odisha a preferred global tourist destination. The major suggestions include a vibrant social media campaign like other states of Rajasthan, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, which are ahead of Odisha in social media presence.It also suggested formulating a tourism master plan for the next five years with a target for annual growth in terms of footfall to the state, the industry body suggested.The association also suggested the government to spend at least 20% of the publicity budget on information and technology in promoting the destinations of the state through social media. “Coming to Facebook and Twitter, Odisha is much below than the top states in almost all matrices. In terms of site optimization, Odisha Tourism website is not even linked to the Facebook page. It was suggested to engage with branding experts, hire professional IT agency of repute on a retainer basis, create comprehensive plan for branding and positioning Odisha, ensure that all components are given proper attention, create a strategic plan to develop, communicate and facilitate tourism on each of these parameters like people, culture, governance, immigration, investment, tourism and exports,” mentioned the recommendation booklet presented to development commissioner R Balakrishnan on Sunday.The association also suggested appointment of a popular person as brand ambassador to promote Odisha Tourism. There should be a beautiful brand Odisha campaign video like the countries of New Zealand, Thailand and Dubai have done. “The Branding should be integrated and positioning should be unique to Odisha,” it added.The association also demanded increasing air connectivity to the state by reviving flights to Bangkok and exploring connectivity with Dubai, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh. The stat can double its domestic tourism with direct flight connectivity to cities like Varanasi, Bodh Gaya, Pune, Port Blair and Ahmedabad, it added.Odisha should focus more on domestic tourism without differentiating with international tourism keeping Lord Jagannath as the major draw. There is a need for proper planning of accommodation, traffic management, visitor experience and cleanliness in Puri to create a tourist-friendly environment. Besides, emphasis should be given on cleanliness, sanitation and safety of visitors at tourist destinations like Kalijai temple, Konark, Dhauli, Rajarani, Mukteswar, Lingaraj Temple and Bindu Sagar areas. At places like Konark tourist infrastructure such as star hotels and better hygiene toilet facilities should be created. Besides, infrastructures like game parks, water parks, film studio like Ramoji Film City should be developed to engage tourists. Entertaining events like Rock Band shows, and Vintage Car Rally should be organised during peak tourist seasons.For the hotel industry, the association demanded to relax norms to get fire and liquor permissions and to make single window clearance for tourism projects. To attract investments to the state, land should be allotted to hoteliers in instalment basis and through auction and benefits of tourism policy should be extended up to 2015 instead of 2020. It also proposed to set up State Tourism Development Authority and construct an international standard convention centre to attract international conferences and conventions to the state.“As we all know the state has immense potential for tourism in the state but due to lack of proper marketing and promotion we are lagging behind other states. We expect the state government to take proactive steps for the tourism sector,” said J K Mohanty, chairman HRAO and also the member of State Tourism Promotion Council and Tourism Advisory Committee, Odisha.

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