By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, August 25, 2019: Odisha has bagged the travel and tourism excellence award from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) in New Delhi on Friday. It won the award under the ‘best ecotourism initiative’ category.

The State also received the awards in the category of best tourism website and eco-tourism.
Odisha Ecotourism, which bagged best eco-tourism initiative in the country, has been developed by taking local communities as stakeholders unlike other States. Unlike other states, Odisha runs its ecotourism sites with community members as stakeholders. These include rural women and tribals.

Minister for Tourism and Culture Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi received the trophy for best website and a citation at a ceremony in New Delhi on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion, Panigrahi said nine tourism circuits across categories have been identified in Odisha which have immense tourism potential.

“We need to unwrap the State in areas of tourism and have a global footprint of Odisha in tourism sector,” he said. The revamped website of Odisha Tourism was launched by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik last month.

Over the past three years, the forest department has developed 40 ecotourism hubs, generating employment for more than 600 forest-dependent community members. Forest and Environment Secretary Mona Sharma said major share of revenue generated from eco-tourism goes directly to the community engaged and this has been the uniqueness of Odisha eco-tourism model. “We are trying for more innovations in the field to showcase the diversity and beauty of the State,” she added.