Bhubaneswar, March 3: Trends for development and promotion of religious tourism in India, especially in Odisha, was discussed at a three-day international tourism conclave that began here today.

The Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management hosted the conclave, in which academicians, research scholars, policy-makers, social entrepreneurs and other stakeholders in the field of tourism took part.

The institute under the Union tourism ministry will work with the state government to find ways to identify religious tourism recourses of Odisha and come out with deliverables to make these resources more attractive to tourists.

"Religious tourism is not only about temples and architectural grandeur. A lot of interesting things such as yoga and performing arts can also be linked to religious tourism to attract tourism with a spiritual bent of mind," said Sarat Kumar Lenka, nodal officer of the institute.

Tourism minister Ashok Panda said that at present the focus was on Buddhist tourism.

"As the air connectivity with Kuala Lampur has been established, we will concentrate on bringing in more Buddhist tourists from south Asian and southeast Asian countries," said Panda at the inaugural event of the conclave.

This apart, the tourism department has proposed a project worth Rs 100 crore to develop the Buddhist circuit of Odisha under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme of the Centre, Panda said.

Gauranga Das, director of Govardhan Eco-Village that has been conferred the United Nations award for taking innovative measures of "sustainable tourism" was present at the conclave. He gave a presentation on how the project was conceptualised.

"The project has linked the tourism initiatives with providing a sustainable life to the local tribal communities in villages, thereby creating a model for empowerment and development of the local people," Das said.

He further said the model had a lot of relevance in Odisha with the state bestowed with nature's bounty, scientific skills and community resources.

During the seminar, participants will focus on the future of religious tourism and discuss ideas, implications, methodologies as well as theoretical and practical approaches to enhance employment opportunities in the field.