Foreign tourists contribute Rs 358 crore to Orissa

Foreign tourists have contributed Rs 358.21 crore to the Orissa government's exchequer in the past three years.

“Orissa has recorded the footfall of 1.31 lakh foreign tourists in the past three years and these foreign tourists have contributed Rs 358.21 crore to the state exchequer”, state minister for tourism Debi Prasad Mishra said.

The state's earnings from the foreign tourists have been significant despite the fact that the state receives less than one per cent of the overall international tourist arrivals in the country.

In 2009, the state recorded inbound arrivals of 27.52 lakh domestic tourists and 45,684 international tourists.

The state tourism department has so far identified 320 tourist spots across the state out of which two new tourist spots were chosen in 2010. Ganjam district has the most number of tourist spots (22) followed by Balasore and Cuttack districts at 21 each and Puri at 20. Mishra stated that the 13 th Finance Commission has not earmarked any fund for the tourism sector in the state for 2010-11.

A total of about Rs 190 crore, including of the Central and the state allocations, has been spent in the state on various tourism development projects from 2004-05 to 2009-10.