State tourism to start multilingual helpline number for tourists

Patna: With a view to providing authentic information about various tourist destinations in Bihar, festive seasons, facilities of transportation and accommodation, Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation (BSTDC) will launch a 24X7 helpline number for all tourists later this month.
“At present, we are operating a manual helpline number (18003456112) on an experimental basis during officer hours (10am to 6pm) which is getting a great response,” said an official associated with the project.
By the month-end, the multilingual helpline number would be fully functional through interactive voice recording system (IVRS). The system will have the facility of providing information in Tamil, Telgu, Kannad and Malayalam apart from Hindi and English. It will also provide information in French, Spanish, Thai and Burmese, said system in charge Abhishek Upadhyay.
He further said tourists visiting Bihar will get updated information on Ganga aarti, Sonepur paryatak gram tariff 2014, Pritripaksha package tour, special package tour for Valmikinagar wildlife safari, MV Ganga Vihar (floating restaurant), special package for navratra holidays (October) through this system.
“If someone wants any information through e-mail, it will also be provided to them on their personal e-mail. This will help them finalizing their tour plan particularly while visiting circuits like Buddha, Jain, Sikh, Sufi, Ramayana and Shaktipeeth,” Upadhyay said.
From the next month onwards, the peak tourist season will start in the state when several foreign tourists, including Japanese, will start visiting Nalanda and Bodh Gaya in groups. The IVRS would be useful for foreigners visiting frequently Nalanda University which has drawn attention across the world particularly Asian countries.