Konark: Here is some heartening news. Konark will soon be included in the list of iconic sites. This was announced by the Minister of State for Tourism and Culture (In-Charge), Government of India, Prahlad Singh Patel at the concluding day of the National Tourism Conference 2020.
“The people of Odisha will soon receive the good news about Konark being included in the list of iconic sites. We will organise a special event to announce the inclusion very soon, ” Prahlad said.
Another important outcome of the conference was that the Ministry of Tourism has decided to award travellers who will visit 15 places in a year by sponsoring their travel expenses.
“We will fund the travel expenses of the travellers who complete 15 destinations in a year and submit the photos on our website. But the condition is the person should travel out of his/her own state,” said Prahlad at the end of the two-day conference, organised by Odisha Government in association with FICCI.
In the Paryatan Parv initiative of the Union Government, it has been promoted that a person should travel at least 15 tourist places of India by 2022. The Ministry of Tourism intends to reward those who complete the task within a year.
FICCI urged that more tourist trains should be introduced to connect to tourists sites of India as well Odisha. “The Centre can coordinate with states to introduce more tourist trains to connect various undiscovered areas of India,” said Soubhagya Mohapatra, Chairman of FICCI Eastern Tourism Committee.
Odisha needs more trained guides
The Ministry of Tourism has been organising certificate programmes for candidates intending to work as tourist guides. But participation of Odisha in this programme is very low and it needs to be enhanced.
“Out of 3500 students trained by us, the total number of participations was only five. Hence Odisha Government should encourage students and candidates to take part in the certificate course,” said Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of Odisha.
Odisha, Gujarat Sign MoI
On the concluding day of National Tourism Conference, a Memorandum of Intent (MoI) was signed between Government of Odisha and Government of Gujarat for cross promotion of and tourist sites in both states as well as across India.in the certificate course,” said Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of Odisha.
