Odisha Tourism bags Two Awards at IATO Convention 2015
Odisha Tourism participated in the annual convention of IATO held at the Grand Bhagawati Palace, Indore from 20th to 22nd August 2015. The convention regarded as one of the most important events in the India Tourism calendar was attended by more than 1200 delegates comprising of important Tour Operators and Travel Agents, Airline operators, decision maker, Central and State Govt. and other stake holders from across the country and overseas.
Hon’ble Minister Tourism & Culture Shri Ashok Chandra Panda, Director & Addl. Secretary Shri Anil Kumar Samal, IAS and Dr. R.K. Pattanayak, Tourist Officer from Odisha Tourism attended the 3 day event.
The convention was inaugurated by Hon’ble Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Mr. Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Hon’ble Union Minister of Tourism & Culture Dr. Mahesh Sharma in the presence of Minister of State, Tourism and Culture, Madhya Pradesh and Hon’ble Minister of Tourism & culture, Odisha, Sri Ashok Chandra Panda and other distinguished guests and dignitaries.
Hon’ble Minister of Tourism Odisha in his speech spoke about the tourism potential of Odisha and highlighted about the air connectivity from Bhubaneswar to Varanasi with special focus on East and North-East states in promoting these states.
The Director Tourism Shri Anil Kumar Samal, IAS gave a state presentation on 21.08.2015 and vividly highlighted about the strength of Odisha Tourism, new incentives and strategy for promotion, etc. He also elaborated on the Shamuka Project, Eco-Tourism projects at Chilika lake and recently opening up of Light and Sound show at Dhauli.
The Odisha Tourism stand was nicely decorated on the various themes of Odisha. There were lot of meetings fixed in the Odisha Tourism stand with tour operators and media. Odisha Tourism publicity materials like Brochure, CD, Souvenirs, etc were distributed to visiting guests and tour operators. Odisha Tourism was present with 10 stakeholders from Odisha.
Odisha Tourism, bagged two awards, one in Best Stall Category and one in Most Valuable Partner Category. In nutshell, Odisha Tourism was on the spotlight which was well represented with its stakeholders at IATO.