Hockey World Cup: Odisha govt in talks with OYO Rooms

The Odisha government is in talks with hotel rooms aggregator OYO Rooms to overcome the anticipated demand-supply mismatch for the Men's Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar from November 28 to December 16.

“For accommodating the teams and officials, there is absolutely no issue at all. We are expecting a large number of fans for which hotel availability will be a shortage. We recently had a meeting with OYO for bringing in more hotels under its fold. The discussion we had with OYO was for 1,000 odd hotel rooms”, Vishal Dev, Secretary, Tourism Department, told media persons at the Third Odisha Tourism Conclave hosted by Hotel and Restaurant Association of Odisha (HRAO). The conclave was inaugurated by Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal.

The state government is also reaching out to hoteliers in Puri and Cuttack for accommodating hockey fans who are expected to throng the state during the Hockey World Cup.

In the past, the state government had reached out to corporates, IT companies, as well as management and technical institutions, to tide over the dearth of hotel rooms.

Dev, who is also the secretary of the sports department, expects a footfall of about 10,000 to 15,000 international tourists during the sporting spectacle.

The state has also planned packages for about 500 tourists during the World Cup that will include accommodation, tickets and sightseeing. Besides, a one-day sightseeing package has also been planned for the visitors.

Speaking at the conclave, J K Mohanty, Chairman Hotel & Restaurant Association of Odisha said, “It’s high time for Odisha to get its due prominence in the tourism map of India.”

“We have so many options like eco-tourism, MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) tourism, ethnic tourism, adventure and wildlife tourism and religious & spiritual tourism, film tourism, tribal tourism, handicraft and textile, the art, craft, culture and cuisine to promote. I am sure, with an aggressive marketing and promotional activities the inflow of foreign tourists to Odisha can definitely take a leap forward, he added.