From Our Correspondent
Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh has taken a major step towards using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve tourism, with the state government announcing plans to become India’s first AI-powered tourism state.
The Andhra Pradesh Tourism Authority (APTA) on Tuesday signed a three-year strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with travel technology company Explurger to deploy its AI platform, NiVU AI (Neural Intelligence Vernacular Unified Model), across the state’s tourist destinations.
Tourism, Culture and Cinematography Minister Kandula Durgesh said the AI platform would be introduced at more than 100 tourist attractions and pilgrimage centres across Andhra Pradesh over the next three years.
Pilot project successful at Mangalagiri
The initiative has already been tested successfully at the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple and Sri Panakala Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple in Mangalagiri.
According to the minister, hundreds of devotees have been using the AI service every day to learn about the temples, their history and rituals in their preferred languages.
The government now plans to expand the service to 30 major tourist destinations in the first year, before covering more than 100 locations across the state.
How the AI platform works
Visitors will simply need to scan a QR code labelled “Ask AI” at a tourist site.
Without downloading any mobile application, they can interact with the AI assistant through voice or text and receive information in more than 130 languages.
The platform will provide details about the history, culture, architecture and significance of monuments, temples, beaches and heritage sites.
The service will be completely free for tourists.
Better visitor experience
Besides helping tourists, the platform will also provide the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Authority with real-time analytics on visitor preferences, languages and travel behaviour.
Officials said the data would help the department improve tourism planning and develop better visitor services.
During the launch event at the Secretariat in Velagapudi, Minister Durgesh and Tourism Special Chief Secretary Ajay Jain demonstrated the AI platform by interacting with it in Telugu.
Global technology partner
Explurger Founder and CEO Jitin Bhatia said Andhra Pradesh would become the first state in the world where every major tourist destination can interact with visitors in multiple languages using AI.
He said the company is training NiVU AI extensively on Andhra Pradesh’s history, heritage and spiritual traditions to ensure accurate and culturally sensitive responses.
Explurger currently has over 22 million users across 75 countries. The company gained national recognition after its platform was showcased during the G20 Summit at the invitation of the Prime Minister’s Office.
The event was attended by APTA Managing Director Amrapali Kata, APTA CEO A.A.L. Padmavathi, senior government officials and representatives of Explurger.