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Published on : Saturday, December 12, 2020
Culture and Tourism Minister Prahlad Patel said that efforts are being made make sure that India has guides who are accomplished in the UN languages so that they can converse with foreign tourists on a one-to-one basis.
There are six official languages of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
Patel said, “We have decided that wherever more than one lakh foreign tourists visit, if they are not comfortable in Hindi and English, we will have signages in their language. Sometimes when a big group would come, we wouldn’t have enough guides speaking those languages… Now, the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel management on the directions of the PM is trying to ensure that we have guides in the UN languages.”
The minister also spoke about the initiative of having signages in international languages at important Buddhist sites in India, including signages in Chinese language that have been put up at five Buddhist sites/monuments in Uttar Pradesh.
In the same way, since Sanchi witnesses a large number of tourists from Sri Lanka, signages in Sinhalese language have been put up at the monuments there.
Patel also said that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is working on relisting ancient monuments and the number of such sites could increase from the present 3,691 to around 8,000 to 10,000.
The minister said that India is making special efforts for boosting Buddhist tourism in the country.
Patel said that the ministry has sanctioned more than Rs. 350 cr for the development of Buddhist sites under the Swadesh Darshan scheme and over Rs. 900 crore has been sanctioned under the PRASHAD scheme.
Tags: Buddhist Tourism, India