Koraput: Lack of basic infrastructure and marketing of the travel destinations has resulted in poor tourist footfall in the district, which is other otherwise regarded as a scenic place located amidst hills, forests, waterfalls and streams.

But the place fails to draw tourists for the lack of facilities such as drinking water, toilets, accommodation, amu-sement or security.

"How can we expect more tourist footfall when our areas lack basic facilities? Whoever comes here goes back feeling dejected because of the sorry state of affairs," said Nihar Bisoi, a Jeypore-based hotelier.

The lack of seriousness to promote tourism in Koraput is evident from the condition of roads that lead to famous tourist destinations such as Gupteswar, the Duduma and Gulumi waterfalls, state's highest peak Deomali and a small hilltop village Maliguda. In contrast, Araku valley in Andhra Pradesh is a tourist destination.

Also, even though there has been an increase in the inflow of foreign tourists from 1,169 in 2015-16 to 1,500 in 2016-17, the tribal economy has not been able to get any benefit out of it as the tourists stay at urban centres such as Jeypore and Koraput, citing lack of infrastructure at the remote tourist destinations.

Non-existent infrastructure, lop-sided funds distribution and lack of will and vision have combined to push the tribal communities to almost obscurity.

"Koraput, being a tribal-dominated district, we can't imagine of developing tourism without involving the local community. Each year, several hundreds of foreign and domestic tourists come to the district, but it rarely has any impact on the local tribal economy," said Yugabrata Kar, a Puri-based tourism entrepreneur, who has been bringing tourists to Koraput for the past 20 years.

"Facilities should be created for night stay of tourists near the spots, so that local youths could be engaged. They should also be involved in developing and maintaining the tourist spots in their respective areas," he said.

Tourism minister Ashok Chandra Panda said: "Over Rs 11 crore has been sanctioned in this fiscal to strengthen infrastructure at various tourist spots in Koraput district. Our focus is to strengthen tribal economy through tourism, and we are working on this."