Orissa Tourism

Orissa Tourism is the most profitable business sector of the state of Orissa in India. The state is known for the lovely sandy beaches, wildlife sanctuaries, exquisite temples, tribal culture, and colorful fairs and festivals. However, Orissa Tourism still has a lot of potentiality to develop further and earn a lot of revenue for the state of Orissa. The tourism of Orissa generates employment opportunities for nearly 92,206 persons directly and 2,76,618 persons indirectly. In the last FY 2006-07, there were in total 54,16, 530 tourists who came to Orissa of which 53,77,123 were domestic and 39,407 were foreign tourists.

Wildlife and adventure tourism is well known in Orissa. The dense forests and hilly areas encourages the adventure lovers to visit these places for trekking and rock climbing. Moreover the rich wildlife sanctuaries like the Similipal Tiger Reserve, the Bhitarkanika Sanctuary, and the Nandankanan wildlife sanctuary also attracts many nature lovers to pay a worthy visit in these travel spots of Orissa.

Apart from this, many people also come over to Orissa to enjoy the waterfalls, lakes, hot water springs, and above all the sandy beaches scattered all over the state. Puri, Chandrabhaga, Chandipur and Gopalpur offers a memorable beach tour to all those who love to enjoy the natural scenic beauty of the blue seas. The largest brackish water lake in asia, Lake Chilika, attracts many visitors every year to Orissa. Moreover there are waterfalls like Barehipani and Joranda, Sanaghagra, Badaghagra, and Khandadhar and also hot springs like Atri, Taptapani, Deulajhari, and Tarabalo in Orissa which are also worth visiting.

Another feature of the Orissa Tourism is the boost it gives to cultural and religious tourism of Orissa. There are many temples in Orissa which reflects the architectural beauty as well as signify the rich historical heritage of the state. Some of the mention worthy temples of Orissa are like-

• Lingaraja Temple
• Rajarani Temple
• Laxmaneswar Temple
• Satrughaneswar Temple
• Bharateswar Temple
• Parasurameswar Temple
• Swarnajaleswar Temple
• Vaital Deul Temple
• Brahmeswar Temple
• Ananta Vasudeva Temple
• Jagannath Temple of Puri
• Sun Temple at Konark

Orissa tourism also gets a boost from the numerous fairs and festivals that takes place in Orissa every year. All these also attracts many tourists from different parts of the world. Some of the unique festivals of Orissa are like Raja-Sankranti or Raja Parva, Garbhana-Sankranti, Kumarotsava or the festival of youth, and the most popular of all the Rath Yatra of the Jagannath at Puri. The Orissa Tourism Development Corporation Limited plays a very significant and encouraging role in conducting these occassions.

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