By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, February 15, 2018: The Odisha government will create a land bank of 1,000 acres for development of tourism sector in the state.

This was decided at a meeting held under chairmanship of chief secretary A.P. Padhi with representatives of Hotels And Restaurants Association and tour operators on Thursday.

“The state government is going to create a land bank of 1,000 acres for development of tourism sector along with several new hotel chains in the state. We have 1,000 acres of land but we will be doing field visits because suitable patches are important to establish new hotels,” said Tourism Secretary Mona Sharma.

The state has also decided to organise road shows in foreign countries showcasing its tourism potential.

In view of the international flight operations and increase in tourist flow, the meeting deliberated on attracting more investments in the hotel industry and decided on strategy for attracting the international hotel chains.

Padhi directed to identify sites in Bhubaneswar, Puri, Daringibadi, Koraput, Rayagada, and other tourist destinations for allotment to the hoteliers.

Meanwhile, Sharma said the process to speed up the work for construction of hotels at 10 places in Bhubaneswar has begun.

Informing that the government provides incentives under the tourism policy for investments, she said proactive steps are needed to be taken to get investments for establishing new hotels.

HRAO President, J K Mohanty, said there is a need to increase the number of hotels to accommodate the tourists.

The arrival of tourists in Odisha has reached an all-time high during 2017 with an inflow of around 141.11 lakh tourists marking a growth of around 9.23 per cent over last year.

The arrival of foreign tourists has gone up to one lakh recording a growth of around 31 per cent in 2017. Similarly, the arrival of domestic tourists has also increased around 9 per cent with 140.11 lakh arrivals.