Bhubaneswar, Sept. 4: Haraprasad Sahoo, an information technology professional in Bhubaneswar, always wanted to visit the Chandaka Dampara Sanctuary along with his friends. However, things such as, organising a vehicle as well as securing permission from the forest department and so on, had been acting as stumbling blocks for the trip.

Now, Haraprasad and his techie friends are happy as the Orissa Tourism Development Corporation is all set to organise packaged tours to the nearby destinations around Bhubaneswar and Puri.

“In fact, the tourism body should conduct these types of short and distance tours to help executives, especially working with the IT sector with little time to rest and think about a planned tour. If a travel company, mainly in the government sector, does half the planning bit, it becomes easier for us. Now, we can plan weekend trips very often from the office itself,” he said.

Homemaker Samita Das of Khandagiri feels that the initiative by the state tourism department is a welcome step, but there should be an option of internet booking for the tours. As many urban people use internet, such an option might cater to the interests of the net-savvy people.

Marketing manager of the tourism body Alok Mishra says: “The tourism authorities planned for the packaged tours long ago when the car festival in Puri had been in progress. Though the monsoon package was also on the agenda, finally the weekly tours to Ghatagaon Tarini, Barkul-Narayani and Puri were selected. We are also going to organise tours-on-demand for the corporate sector, if the companies want to send their employees on de-stressing tours on weekends. It is reasonably priced and the packages are expected to attract the local tourists along with those coming from Bengal.”

For the first time, short destination weekend packages involving Nandankanan-Chandaka Sanctuary, Ramachandi-Konark tour via Puri-Konark Marine Drive, a water park on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar and state museum–Dhauli and tribal museum will be introduced from September 6.

In the past, tour operators and visitors had raised their voice for introduction of packaged tours and even the long-term packaged tours and well planned schemes with the focus either on the wildlife habitat or the tribal lifestyle.

In fact, with a plethora of choices for tourism development and package tour destinations, the state tourism department is unable to tap many opportunities. The state government can earn handsome revenue with more such packaged tours. As the state has a treasure-trove of the Buddhist sites and many can be connected to the state capital by road transportation facilities, the tourism body can also tap the potential.

Managing director of one K7 Holidays Debasish Mohapatra says the effort on part of the corporation is laudable, but there should be an internet-booking option.

“The defunct “Hop on Hop off” tour kiosks across the city, lying unused after the failure of the programme, could be utilised for ticket-booking. If the tourism body works in collaboration with the tour operators from Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the service delivery will be better and the private operators can be involved in terms of contributing towards more participants in the packages. The private bodies can help develop the tourism sector which can grow without creating pollution and displacement of the natives just as in case of the industrial projects which often bring in hazards to the surrounding localities where they come up,” said Mohapatra.

“There are also many beautiful places around Bhubaneswar such as, Prachi river valley — the birthplace of the famous poet Jayadev — and the Chausathi Yogini Temple of the Tantrik cult. The historical places, excavation sites such as, Old Fort of Barabati, can also be included,” he said.

Regarding the choice of places like Tarini and ticket-pricing, Mohapatra said if the authorities planned to include the Bengal tourists in this plan, there could be less participation as those tourists might not opt for Ghatagaon. However, the Oriyas are more attracted towards Goddess Tarini.

With Rs 600 plus ticket for a bus journey, it could receive tough competition as many prefer to get their own vehicles or the hired ones and can manage the tour with the similar spending.

“The corporation authorities should therefore concentrate more on the nearby destinations and even devise more creative options by including the lesser-known places near the “Golden Triangle” consisting of Bhubaneswar, Puri and Konark,” he said.

“With the corporate culture coming up, we always get enquiries from various national and international-level organisations to have customised tours for weekends. Now, this can be possible and the corporates can have relaxing weekends near the city. Already we have received enquiries from many before the formal launch,” said a senior marketing official.