Orissa Tourism have been awarded the National Tourism Award for Excellence in introducing the most innovative Tourism Product in shape of Hop On Hop Off Tourist bus service. Sri Parag Gupta IAS Commissioner-cum-Secretary to His Excellency, the Governor of Orissa and Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Department of Tourism, Government of Orissa received the award from the Ministry of Tourism at a special function organised at New Delhi on 24th February 2009. The air-conditioned Bus service was introduced at Bhubaneswar for the first time in India on 4th August 2008. The service is operating on two routes – the Heritage Route mostly covering the Heritage site of Bhubaneswar and the city route covering some of the prominent city centers and tourist spots.