The project aimed to promote responsible tourism including eco-tourism and community-based tourism in and around Chilika Lake and its catchment area, the second largest brackish water lagoon in the world and the largest in Asia. It focused on conservation of ecological resources and promotion of wise use of the lake & basin resources and extend appropriate economic activities to benefit the local communities.
We prepared the Tourism Master Plan for promoting Chilika Lake and its catchment area as an international eco-tourism destination. The regional tourism master plan aimed at enhancing the visitor experience, improving its market position, maintaining ecological balance, and developing competitive lake and island tourism products for all target groups. As part of the project, we conducted comprehensive assessments such as environmental and tourism zoning, tourism performance benchmarking, thematic cluster formulation, tourist projections and demand assessment, and tourism carrying capacity assessments. Key outcomes were 10 ready-to-invest projects worth INR 547 Cr. formulated on PPP mode. The projects were designed based on Green Building standards such as GRIHA and SVAGRIHA, and were estimated to generate over 90,000 employment opportunities.
