Bhubaneswar, Nov. 5: The Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM) has trained as many as 60 tribal youths from Kandhamal as eco-facilitators.

Selected students in the age group of 20 to 30 years completed their training on ways to utilise the forest areas and to promote eco-tourism activities such as trekking.

The decision to train these students was taken after the state tourism department noticed an increase in the tourist inflow to Daringbadi, which is a hill station.

"While the footfall to the district has grown almost four times during the past three years or so, the lack of trained guides for tourists remained a problem in the area," said Sarat Kumar Lenka, a nodal officer at IITTM.

With most of the local residents unable to follow Hindi or English, the tourists face problems in trying to communicate with them.

The IITTM handpicked the youths who have cleared Class VIII and have a basic understanding of Hindi and English.

The youths were trained on the basic etiquette of how to welcome the tourists and meet their queries.

They were also imparted the idea of starting up small tourism related ventures - mostly related to adventure tourism and trekking so as to help them earn a livelihood.

"Our training will solve the problem of shortage of guides. The youths have also been trained on the history, culture and festivals of the place so that they can explain the same to the visitors. They have also been trained on how to motivate the tourists to visit other important sites in Odisha," said Lenka.

Sukanya Murmu, a training participant, said it has infused a lot of confidence in her.

"Surprisingly, I myself was not aware of the history and heritage of the area I had been living in for so many years," said Sukanya.

"It was an eye opener for me and I have decided to study on my own to learn more about Kandhamal and its history so that I can facilitate the tourists," she said.

Govind Soren, another tribal youth from the area, had been sitting idle after completing his matriculation.

"I could not continue my studies outside my village as my father is very sick. I was lucky to get this opportunity and after the training, I feel confident about myself. I can now earn a living without having to moveout of Kandhamal," Soren said.