Soon tourists visiting five iconic sites — Amer Fort (Rajasthan), Kaziranga (Assam), Colva Beach (Goa), Kumarakom (Kerala) and Mahabodhi Temple (Bihar)-will no longer have to depend on the human guide to explore the historic hotspots. In fact, they can just log in to an audio-video guide app that is being developed by the Government.
On Thursday, Union Tourism Minister KJ Alphons, at an event here handed over a Memorandum of Understanding to M/s Resbird Technologies for developing the mobile Audio-Video Guide App under the Centre’s ‘Adopt a Heritage’ scheme launched in June this year.
During the function, the Minister also handed over the Letters of Intent to seven agencies shortlisted to become ‘Monument Mitras’.
An official from the Ministry said that these agencies, if empanelled, will cover sites like the Aalampur Temple, Telangana; Bhimbetka Rock Shelters, Madhya Pradesh; Buddhist Caves, Uparkot, Gujarat; and Rani ki Vav, Patan, Gujarat.
The sites also include the Champaner Pavagarh Archaeological Park, Champaner, Gujarat; the European tomb, near Katargam Darwaja, Surat, Gujarat; Lothal, Bhal, Gujarat; the Khajuraho group of Monuments, Madhya Pradesh; the Mahabalipuram Group of Monuments, Tamil Nadu and the Maharaja Chhatrasal Museum Complex in Madhya Pradesh.
“These agencies would become ‘Monument Mitras’ through the innovative concept of ‘Vision Bidding’, which will give them the opportunity to associate their CSR activities with a heritage site if the Vision Bid is selected,” the official said.
The move to develop such an app was felt to ease the visit of the tourists to the hotspots as they will not have to spend on guided tours which have been found quite expensive with little time for the tourists to do exploring on their own.
The app will give the tourists the ability to take a tour at their own pace as they will not have to stick to be in groups, he said.
The ‘Adopt a Heritage: Apni Dharohar, Apni Pehchaan’ scheme is a collaborative effort between the ministries of Tourism, Culture and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
It aims to involve public and private sector companies, corporate citizens or individuals to make the country’s heritage and tourism more sustainable through development.
The Ministry has previously issued Letters of Intent (LoI) in five ceremonies to 37 shortlisted agencies for their interest in 107 sites across India. As on date, 10 MoUs have been executed with various ‘Monument Mitras’ for development, operation and maintenance of tourist amenities at heritage and tourist sites across India.