Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday declared Odisha Tourism’s flagship three-month glamping festival Eco Retreat, open for booking.
Patnaik also unveiled the new logo subtly depicting the ecological orientation. This year’s Eco Retreat is being organised keeping in view the last year’s success of its debut with an event at marine drive in Konark.
Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said that last year, a benchmark was set in luxury glamping with a phenomenal success at the marine drive eco retreat at Konark.
This time, he said, the state has scaled it up to five unique locations Konark, Hirakud, Bhitarkanika, Daringbadi and Satkosia.
The Eco retreats will offer tourists an excellent opportunity to discover Odisha’s diverse tourism offerings, in style, he added.
In a note of assurance to tourists from across the country during COVID 19 pandemic, the chief minister said that all stakeholders in the tourism and hospitality sector across the state have been provided training on protocols.
Consistent with Odisha’s stellar management of COVID- 19 pandemic, the Eco Retreats will be in complete compliance with guidelines and standard operating procedures prescribed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, he said.
The chief minister urged the district administrations to take ownership of the execution of the Eco Retreats.
Raising hope for the pandemic affected tourism and hospitality sector, Patnaik expressed confidence that the Eco Retreats will provide the much needed fillip to Odisha Tourism and help it revive during this difficult time.
Odisha’s Tourism and Culture minister J P Panigrahi said that the marine drive Eco Retreat had created a massive impact which echoed at the Tourism Minister’s Conclave in January 2020.
Chief Secretary A K Tripathy said that the Eco Retreat model ticks the right boxes in terms of environmental sustainability, technological leverage, teamwork, timeliness in near-perfect compliance with good governance and will be transformative for each location’s tourism-oriented future.
Tourism secretary V K Dev gave a glimpse of the experiences awaiting tourists at each of the five unique locations.
The Eco Retreats Odisha is slated to open for tourists from December 8, 2020 and will continue till February 28, 2021, an official said, adding that one can book an easy-to- use integrated portal ecoretreat.odishatourism.gov.in is available to tourists from across India.