KENDRAPARA: The Tourism department will organise Eco Retreat festival at Pentha beach within Bhitarkanika National Park from November 15 to March 1 next year.A meeting to review the preparedness for the festival was organised at Pentha on Monday. The three and a half month-long event will be organised with an aim to attract tourists to the beach and nearby mangrove forest.
Kendrapara Sub-Collector Niranjan Behera said 15 luxury tents will be pitched at the beach with water and electricity connection besides parking facility. Cultural programmes, food festival and trekking in the nearby mangrove forest will be arranged for visitors during the event.
The Tourism department will soon allow online booking for the tents. Besides providing tourists an opportunity to explore the beautiful destination, the festival will generate income for locals. A photo exhibition and seminar on Bhitarkanika will be organised during the 106-day-long event, informed district tourist officer Himalaya Tripathy.
Tourists can also watch the mating and nesting of Olive Ridley turtles during their stay in the tents, the officer said.Rajnagar MLA Dhruba Sahoo said Puri and Gopalpur beaches are overcrowded round the year while Pentha beach remains unexplored as a tourist destination.
The government has taken the right decision to organise Eco Retreat festival at the eight-km-long Pentha beach which has a great tourism potential, he added. Last year, the Tourism department had organised a three-month-long Eco Retreat festival at Nalitapatia village near Bhitarkanika.