Odisha govt in talks with AirAsia for direct operations

Odisha government is in talks with Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia to start direct flight operations between Bhubaneswar and top cities of Southeast Asia.
"We are trying to get direct connectivity to Southeast Asian cities including Bangkok. AirAsia is very much interested on that. Right now, the talks are on not finalised. Hopefully in days to come it will be finalised," Odisha Tourist Officer and former India Tourism (Paris) Assistant Director Dr R K Pattanayak told PTI here.
The Odisha government conducted a roadshow in the city to attract domestic tourists.
An AirAsia team visited Biju Patnaik International airport and took stock of the infrastructure, passenger traffic and commercial prospects of the airport, Pattanayak said.

To get first hand knowledge about the commercial viability of flight operations at the airport, the delegation also held talks with Odisha Chief Secretary G C Pati and airport authorities, Pattanayak said.
The Tourist Officer said AirAsia wants to connect to the Buddhist countries including Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Japan, to increase the footfalls of foreign tourists.

To augment foreign footfalls, the Odisha government has already written to the central government to connect Bhubaneswar to Bodhgaya and Sarnath to woo foreign travellers to visit Buddhist sites in the state, another Tourist Officer Bija Kumar Jena said.
Jena said though Odisha has all the attractions including a 480-km coastline, it gets less than one per cent of all the foreign tourists who visit India. "A total of 71,426 foreign tourists visited Odisha in 2014," he said.

Jena said the government plans to double the footfalls in next five years, and "to achieve it, we are creating a brand image of Odisha."
"...Plans are afoot to deploy professional agencies to promote tourism in print, electronic and cyber media, travel fairs and road shows," he said.