Union Tourism secretary Yogendra Tripathi, Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy conducted a meeting with travel trade professionals of Orissa in Bhubaneswar. During the meeting the group representing Odisha travel trade gave suggestions to the bureaucrats for accelerating tourism growth in the eastern state. Some of the recommendations include:
a) It was suggested that Odisha’s potential be highlighted in Incredible India campaign and in tourism brochures in India and abroad in all India Tourism offices.
b) Ministry of Tourism should consider development of the 1100 square kilometer big Chilka lake for water sport and other activities.
c) Travel Trade felt that the state’s Buddhist circuit remains underdeveloped and infrastructure needs to be developed for creating a vibrant Buddhist circuit in the state.
d) GST rates ought to be brought down from 28 % to 8% for hotels having room tariff of Rs 7500. Hotels should to be classified in the infrastructure category under section 80-1A of Income Tax Act to avail tax concessions.
Meanwhile Odisha Tourism has also announced that it would be conducting six roadshows across India to boost domestic tourist arrivals in the state. All the road shows would take place in the month of September; the cities for roadshows include- Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ranchi and Chennai
