‘Tourism Insight and Strategies to the Covid-19 Crisis’ was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)

ODISHA NEWS TODAY BUREAU:

A webinar titled ‘Tourism Insight and Strategies to the Covid-19 Crisis’ was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Senior industry leaders from the state and across the country converged to discuss the implications of the disruption caused by the pandemic, also contemplating the road ahead for the tourism and hospitality sectors. There was an underlying consensus on the need for visible and proactive government support on financial and policy matters to enable businesses to manage the disruption and safeguard them from the side-effects of the unprecedented crisis. Industry stakeholders concurred on a possible change in the consumer behaviour, post the COVID-19, wherein sparsely populated destinations were going to preferred by tourists, and Odisha was at the forefront of capitalising on such a shift.
State tourism and culture minister Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi was the chief guest of the event, who suggested that Odisha needed a two-pronged approach, equally focussing on revival and growth plan. “The focus would be on domestic tourism and increasing footfalls from the neighbouring states. Once the road traffic is operationalised, we could focus on family and road-based tourism,” he said. He added that tourism needed to factor in social distancing and other precautionary measures as mandated to ensure health and well-being.