BHUBANESWAR: Deputy chief minister Pravati Parida launched the ‘Go-Adventure’ portal at Lok Seva Bhawan here on Tuesday as part of the state government’s new initiative to promote adventure tourism in Odisha.
Addressing the gathering, Parida emphasised safety as the cornerstone of the state’s adventure tourism expansion. “The government plans to modernise the sector and attract fresh investment from young entrepreneurs through international partnerships and a new focus on spiritual and experience-based travel,” she said.
She appreciated the joint efforts of the Tourism, Sports and Home departments in opening a new chapter in Odisha’s tourism landscape and called upon all departments to work collectively to make the state a world-class tourism destination.
Chief secretary Anu Garg said the state government is prioritising tourism development with the vision of achieving Utkarsh Odisha by 2036 and Viksit Bharat by 2047. She stressed that all departments should explore ways to contribute to tourism growth alongside their core responsibilities. “Adventure tourism would boost local economies and create large-scale employment opportunities,” she said and urged stakeholders to adopt the mantra ‘Think India, Think Odisha’.
The Go-Adventure portal will simplify registration, verification and licensing procedures for adventure tourism projects. The state government also signed MoUs with the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) and Aero Club of India (ACI).
The MoU with IMF is expected to strengthen safety audits and training programmes for land-based adventure activities such as trekking and rock climbing, while the partnership with ACI will regulate aerial adventure sports like paragliding and paramotoring in line with national aviation safety norms.
DG Fire Services and Home Guards Sudhanshu Sarangi, Tourism secretary Balwant Singh and Sports secretary Bhupendra Singh Poonia were present. Former Union minister and president of ACI Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Pawan Gupta from National Institute of Water Sports (NIWS), Goa joined virtually.