Dikhyaa Mohanty 
Odisha Tourism was awarded ‘Best Future Forward State’ in the silver category at the sixth edition of the Indian Responsible Tourism Awards whereas Kerala won the Gold category award.
For the first time, the award ceremony was organized outside Delhi at Eco Retreat Odisha in Konark. The awards recognize champions of upright travel as a regional partner of the reported World Travel Market’s (WTM) Responsible Tourism Awards held in London.
The ecotourism model of community-managed nature camps in Odisha has since 2016 empowered rural populations with an alternate and sustainable livelihood.
Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi, Odisha Tourism Minister stated on the occasion that Odisha’s contribution to the promotion of tourism is working with great speed and had shown success. Odisha’s tourism and hospitality infrastructure for more prominent flexibility against disruptive events such as cyclones and pandemics to guaranteeing the responsible design of new tourism products at the state has made sustainable.
Odisha is also working to make the tourism community-led through the flagship project as ‘Ecotour Odisha’, an award-winning template not only for safe, inclusive, and sustainable tourism but also for community and livelihood development through specialized skilling of community members.
Even as a part of the tourism revival strategy, work is started to double the capacity of the nature camps from 300 keys to over 600 in the coming days.
image Source- Google
