A set of recommendation for the development of the Odisha tourism industry have arisen from the 3rd Odisha Tourism Conclave that commenced on Friday, 24th August 2018 in Bhuvaneshwar, Odisha.
“Now people can have tourism on the mobile handsets, but the growth is like on aeroplane mode. We need to have a vibrant campaign to brand Odisha in line with New Zealand, Thailand and Dubai to promote the destinations,” said JK Mohanty, Chairman of Hotel and Restaurant Association of Odisha (HRAO), while speaking in the Conclave.
Social media should be used to market Tourism globally. Blog posts, podcasts, videos and e-newsletters are to be considered for this. “A world class content strategy should be developed which would help user’s share and comment. Tourism Department must have a digital marketing team and spend more on social media marketing,” he added.
Mohanty suggested the government to have a master plan for next 20 years and produce a booklet for MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) tourism. Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Maldives, Nigeria, South Africa, Iraq, Kenya and Oman are the top ten countries, from where Odisha is having more tourists.
As Odisha is well equipped with high medical professions, the State can be promoted as a destination for medical/wellness tourism. The conclave also exhorted to propagate Odisha as a place for ‘night tourism’ and to find new tourism spots with good quality infrastructure, to attract more new generation young travellers to the state.
