With the launch of direct flights connecting Bhubaneswar to Dubai, Bangkok and Singapore under the “Viability Gap Funding” scheme, the Odisha government is hopeful of doubling its foreign tourist arrivals in the state by 2025 from its pre-pandemic levels, a tourism official said on Monday. A “Viability Gap Funding” (VGF) is a government grant provided to airlines to bridge the gap between the cost of operations and expected revenues.
“The target is to double the foreign tourist arrivals by 2025 to 2.5 lakh from the pre-Covid peak of 1.2 lakh witnessed in 2019,” Sachin Jadhav, Director of Tourism Odisha, said.
