During a video conferencing session,Praising Odisha’s vast tourism potential, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said people should take pride in tourist places for its promotion. When asked by Ankita Kundu, a student of Utkal University ‘on how Odisha’s tourism could be promoted’- on the sidelines of digital launching of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) projects from Jammu and Kashmir through video conferencing, the Prime Minister said, “The first requirement of tourism is to take pride in your tourist sites.”
“Unless we take pride in our tourist places, we cannot fully tap their potential. During my visit to the US, I was shown a 400-year-old landmark in Pennsylvania. In our country, we can boast of hundreds of landmarks that are thousands of years old,” the Prime Minister said.
Giving the case of Odisha, the Prime Minister said, “Its richness in tourism is vast. With its beaches, heritage and monuments like Konark, the State has amazing tourist sites. We have to work for their promotion and also need to focus on Swachhata (cleanliness), use of technology and entrepreneurship in the sector.”
“Homestay is popular throughout the world. We need to promote this in a bigger way to help our tourism. Besides, mobile applications can be developed in the field of tourism that will also pave way for business opportunities in the sector,” he said.
Ananta Das,the Higher Education Minister of the state, who was present at Utkal University during the digital launching of RUSA projects, thanked the Prime Minister for speaking about Odisha’s tourism potential. The Minister, however, sought a special package from the Centre for development of tourism sites in the State.
The Prime Minister launched Phase-II RUSA projects worth Rs 3,300 crore in the higher education sector in various parts of the country, including a Rs 15 crore Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Career Hub at Utkal University and model colleges in six aspirational districts.
