Other States - Orissa

PHA opposes Tourism Department’s move

BHUBANESWAR: The Puri Hotel Association (PHA) has opposed the Tourism Department’s move to merge its three-year-old Sreekshetra Utsav of Puri with the Puri beach festival being organised by Hotel and Restaurants’ Association of Orissa (HRAO).

Sreekshetra Utsav was launched in 2004 to highlight the unique culture and tradition of Puri and attract more inflow of tourists to the pilgrims’ paradise through promotion of cultural tourism. The government decided to club it with the 12-year-old Puri beach festival this year on the plea that it does not attract tourists.

Contrary to the government’s views, representatives of the Puri Hotel Association claimed that the Sreekshetra Utsav in December drew good number of visitors.

Participating in the preparatory meeting of the beach festival, they pointed out that merger of the event in the peak tourism season of December would adversely affect the tourists’ inflow.

The association also urged the administration and the Tourism Department to prevail upon the government to reconsider the merger. The first-of-its-kind the five-day Puri beach festival would be under way from November 23. It would be organised jointly by the HRAO and the PHA.

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