BHUBANESWAR: Hoteliers of the State on Saturday asked the State Government to make land easily available to eligible entrepreneurs, if it wanted to maintain a robust growth in the tourism sector. At a workshop by Hotel and Restaurant Owners Association (HRAO), the hoteliers decried non-allotment of land to prospective entrepreneurs even as the State lags behind in terms of availability of accommodation facilities. They said the Government should create a land bank identifying suitable land in various places of importance as well as of tourism interest and provide the same to the entrepreneurs. They sought a special package, including identification of at least 500 acres of land in special tourism zones of every district and allotting it to hotel industry, allowing payments in instalments in seven years on the lines of Kerala, Rajasthan, Goa and Andhra Pradesh and single window clearance to all hotel projects. Odisha accounts for only 158 rooms of the current 80,405 hotel rooms under construction in the country. States like Andhra Pradesh have 4,985 rooms, Gujarat 2,033, Tamil Nadu 5,272 and Haryana 4,376 while Maharashtra alone has 22,303 rooms under construction. The main drawbacks in the State are the problem of land and lack of incentives like interest subsidy provided by other states, chairman of HRAO J K Mohanty said. Odisha requires at least 4,000 rooms in three star category and 1,000 rooms in five star category which would need an investment of ` 13,000 crore. Like Haryana, the State Government should provide five per cent interest subsidy on term loans and industrial tariff on electricity. The new rooms can generate income in crores while giving direct and indirect employment to over 25,000 people, Mohanty said. The State Government should emulate Maharashtra, Meghalaya and Andhra Pradesh in providing 100 per cent exemption on stamp duty, he said. The association also called for construction of a new international airport at the earliest and provision of VISA facility on arrival. Mohanty said while foreign tourist arrival in India is more from countries like the US, Bangladesh, Germany, France, Australia, the UK, Sri Lanka, Japan and Malaysia, all states are conducting roadshows in these countries except Odisha. Stating that ‘human safari’ and abduction cases have given Odisha Tourism a negative image, the members said an attractive tourism policy and appointing a brand ambassador like Gujarat and West Bengal did for promotional activities are the need of the hour. “Eco, adventure, heritage, rural, wildlife and medical tourism aspects are yet to be explored in the State,” said Ramesh Mohapatra, president of Utkal Chambers of Commerce & Industries. Except Bhubaneswar and Puri, no other place has been explored to the fullest, he added.
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