Bhubaneswar, Mar 31: As many as 71,426 foreign tourists visited Odisha during 2014, said Minister for Tourism and Culture Ashok Chandra Panda.
Replying to a question by BJP MLA Dilip Ray in the State Assembly, the Minister said UK and the USA were the major tourist generating markets for Odisha during 2014. He said 9,890 tourists from UK and 9,615 from USA visited the State during the year followed by 5,371 from Germany, 4,825 from France and 4,764 from Netherland.
He said in 2014 as many as 11,085 tourists from North America, 1,175 from central and South America, 2657 from Australia, 36,147 from Western Europe, 2,435 from Eastern Europe, 1,199 from West Asia, 2648 from South Asia, 2,578 from South East Asia, 9,838 from East Asia and 1,664 from African countries had visited the State.
The Minister said as many as 64,719 tourists from these countries visited the state in 2012 and 66,675 tourists came in 2013.
Panda said out of the total 57,75,692 foreign tourists visiting the country as many as 50,432 visited Odisha in 2010. Odisha’s share in national tourist arrival was 0.87 per cent in 2010, 0.96 in 2011, 0.97 in 2012, 0.96 in 2013, 0.93 in 2014 and 0.83 per cent in 2015.
The Minister said the State has participated in international fairs, organsied road shows, international Buddhist sammelani, tourism festivals, tourism infrastructure development and launched a massive campaign in print and electronic media to woo tourists to the State.
