Houseboat facility at Chilika to woo tourists

As a part of its endeavour to boost inbound tourist inflow, the Orissa Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) has introduced the house boat facility at Chilika, Asia’s biggest brackish water lagoon and one of the state's most sought after tourist hotspots.

The houseboat facility was launched by the state’s tourism minister Debi Prasad Mishra on Thursday at Barkul, on the bank of the blue lagoon, about 60 km from here. The houseboat was opened for the tourists on Friday. The house boat named Latika has two rooms with air-conditioned facility. The houseboat can accommodate at least two families. “The boat will be stationed at a particular place inside the lagoon and the visitors will go to the other destinations inside the lake through the small boats of the OTDC”, said A Mohapatra, manager of OTDC's Barkul Panthanivas.