Ministry of Tourism inaugurates ‘Atithi Devo Bhavah’ campaign in Hyderabad
 

Hyderabad, January, 2005: Hon’ble Minister of State for Tourism (Independent Charge), Smt. Renuka Chowdhury  inaugurated ‘Athiti Devo Bhavah’ campaign in Hyderabad. The campaign aims at providing the inbound tourist a sense of being welcomed to the country. The campaign will target the general public as a whole, while focusing mainly on the stakeholders of the tourism industry in the city of Hyderabad. The campaign will provide training and orientation to taxi drivers, guides, immigration officers, tourist police and other personnel’s directly interacting with the tourists.

Athiti Devo Bhavah will involve Sensitisation, Screening, Induction, Training & Orientation, Certification and Feedback of key stakeholders of the Tourism Industry in India.

Speaking at the roll out of ‘Athiti Devo Bhavah’ campaign in Hyderabad, Smt. Renuka Chowdhury said,Atithi Devo Bhavah’ is a nationwide campaign aimed at sensitising people about India’s rich cultural heritage, its preservation, cleanliness, hospitality and bringing out an attitudinal shift among the masses towards tourists.

The campaign will be rolled out in a phased manner over a period of three years. In the first phase Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Agra, Goa and Aurangabad would be covered.

The training programme will be conducted by experts at two levels. Level I will primarily train the taxi drivers, guides, porters etc in the form of ‘nukkad’ training, road show and classroom programme. The Level II training will be a classroom programme focussing on immigration officials, tourist police etc. After the successful completion of the training programme, a certificate will be issued to the participants.

Smt. Renuka Chowdhury further added, "Atithi Devo Bhavah is the symbolic representation of India’s age old hospitality and with this campaign, we are trying to re-instill in the stake holders a sense of pride and responsibility towards tourists, while positioning India as a popular tourist destination worldwide.

The Ministry of Tourism is looking at reinventing India’s diversity, modernity and cultural heritage while keeping in view the sustainability and environmental aspects.