Bhubaneswar, Oct. 7: Promotion of ethnic tourism in the state has almost taken a backseat since the focus shifted entirely on religious circuits.

The ban on ethnic tourism in the Maoist-infested areas has created a problem for tour operators, as tourists from Europe, especially from Italy, are now becoming more interested in Odisha.

Call it a negative publicity or just a challenge for a traveller, who wants to explore the rural lifestyle and stay in the forests, Odisha’s jungles and their stories are selling like hot cakes in Italy. But right now, here in the state, no tour operator is ready to take it on, as at the grassroots level, local restrictions are spoiling the mood.

“Last year, around 6,000 to 7,000 travellers from Europe visited the state, but with Paolo Bosusco’s abduction and the incidents afterwards, Odisha has inspired more, especially from Italy, in adventure tourism. This year, many of our travel professional friends from Italy are asking us for tour packages, but we cannot welcome them. The state government must rethink and try to do something all across the state as it has become an interesting field to source tourists from international market,” said a leading tour operator, who is operating several ethic tour packages in southern and central Odisha.

“Odisha is attracting a huge number of tourists these days. Even if the tourist permission is granted, it takes so much time that the tourists become frustrated. Six months ago, we had given a proposal to the state government for a single-window clearance system, so that a traveller could get the permission from Bhubaneswar and the local administration would not come as a stumbling block. However, nothing has happened so far,” said Timir Baran Patnaik, president of the Odisha Tour Operators’ Association.

Odisha is home to several tribal groups and 12 districts have 17 primitive tribal groups, who are having distinct lifestyle, and the Westerners are interested to know them and the challenges they face.

“It is not right to say that the travellers make trips only to see the poverty, but they come here to experience the challenges the primitive communities face. We have to understand their interest and not go by the vested ones, which paint a different picture of the episode,” said another tour operator.

Tourism director H.S. Upadhyaya admitted that the state was losing a lot because of restrictions on ethnic tourism.

“The state government has taken up the issue to go for a single-window clearance system so that tourists are not harassed at any point of time. However, it will take some more time to come up,” he said.

Tour operators welcomed the promotion of other sectors, including rural tourism and Buddhist circuits, but they also pointed out that there was no technical difference between rural tourism and ethnic tourism as the majority of the state population were staying in the rural pockets.

“Maoist leaders and government administrators, who act as moral police, are strangers to all the aboriginals. Tourist inflow after the restrictions was definitely affected. No matter how much money the government spent on promotion of other circuits and cultural heritage tradition, these only cannot woo the foreigners with too much restriction on movement and photography,” said an ethnic tourism operator, Srikanta Mishra.

Mishra also found some operators were equally at fault without professional approach.

“Operators should have understood well the interests of the primitive ethnic groups, sense their mindset and ensure engaging guides from the respective local communities, as promoting their handicrafts in a sustainable way,” he said.

“People of the districts, where foreign tourists come to get the feel of the challenges in life, should also become friendly with the visitors and not see them only with suspicion,” he said.

But, many basic issues should be answered. A senior official of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Research and Training Institute, Bhubaneswar, said: “Banning scholars, curious travellers to aboriginal habitats cannot help protection of the ethnic culture as the tourists rather act as the ambassadors to propagate the cultural heritage. Casual tourists can be debarred from these tours. More pro-ethnic projects should be taken up to make the aboriginals economically sound.”

A tour operator said ethnic tourism was flourishing in states such as Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. All the Maoist-infested states are yet to effect such a ban like Odisha’s.

“The state government is planning to introduce its tourism policy within two months. We hope that the new policy is going to address the issue involving the ethnic groups,” said a senior member of the association.