BHUBANESWAR: The Indian Rail Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a mini-Ratna PSU, on Tuesday inked an MoU with the Orissa Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) to promote tourist places in the State.
IRCTC, which offers rail tour packages, has identified a number of destinations to woo tourists and offered 10 tourist packages to the OTDC in the first phase. The places it would cover from Bhubaneswar include Goa, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Agra, Rajasthan, Shirdi, Tirupati and Mathura for outbound tourists. For inbound tourism, the OTDC has offered seven packages to the IRCTC, which would sell the Golden Triangle comprising Puri, Konark and Bhubaneswar as the USP of Orissa Tourism.
IRCTC chief regional manager (East Coast Railway), Amlan Kumar Biswal said according to the MoU, IRCTC would market tourism products of Orissa at all its counters across the country and as a part of its packages, would provide accommodation, train tickets and sightseeing and food facilities to the Oriya tourists. Special facilities will also be provided to State’s tourists opting for Bharat Darshan package of IRCTC that has been receiving an overwhelming response as it was an affordable package tour that covered prominent temples.
Similar arrangements will be made by OTDC for tourists who come to the State through IRCTC.
“The packages are all affordable and have been designed for tourists hard pressed for time. IRCTC would arrange full trains, coaches as well as reserved berths in regular trains depending on the inflow of customers,” said OTDC general manager M R Patnaik.
He said though the MoU stands valid for a year, it would be extended considering the response to the packages. This apart, the IRCTC has decided to venture into the hotel sector for the first time in Orissa.