**Bhubaneswar: ** Odisha Minister of Culture and Tourism Ashok Chandra Panda on Sunday informed that the number of tourists has increased from 98.66 lakh in 2013 to 1.29 crore in 2016.
The Minister revealed this while addressing a press conference here as a part of Odisha Government’s media interaction programme.
He said, “The number of tourists has increased from 98.66 lakh in 2013 to 1.29 crore in 2016. The rate of growth in tourism was recorded 9% in last 3 years. Similarly the number of foreign tourists has increased from 66, 675 in 2013 to 76, 361 in 2016. In last three years, Rs 258.96 crores spent on tourism in last three years.”
Speaking on this occasion, he also claimed that Official Language Amendment Bill-2016 was one of the major success of the current government.