Low footfall of foreigners in Bhitarkanika due to registration process: tour operators

Odisha may be receiving thousands of foreign tourists every year but only a fraction of them visit Bhitarkanika National Park allegedly due to hassles in mandatory registration of overseas visitors by the forest department, a charge denied by the department.
Odisha had received as many as 66,971 international tourists in 2016 but their inflow to the Bhitarkanika National Park was only 211, according to information available with the forest department.
Those involved in tourism sectors attribute this small number of foreign tourists to the hassles in mandatory registration of overseas visitors, but the forest department said there can only be stray cases of delayed registration of foreigners and the department was doing everything possible to ensure there was no inordinate delay.

"In verification of visa, passport and registration, forest officials are simply harassing the visitors. The foreigners are being stranded for at least an hour at the Divisional forest office during verification," alleged a local tourist operator, Samarendra Biswal.
Last week, a group of foreign tourists were halted for more than two hours at the registration cell of DFO office, another tour operator said, adding this apparently formed a very poor impression about the implementation of procedural formalities.
The way overseas visitors were being treated, the number of foreign tourists visiting Bhitarkanika is dropping, local tourist guide, Pradip Das alleged.
"We are intent on finishing the registration process of foreigners promptly. There may be stray cases of delayed registration. The department is taking best possible efforts to ensure that registration of foreign tourists does not get inordinately delayed," Divisional Forest Officer, Bimal Prassana Acharya said.