AI platform to offer multilingual tourist assistance at over 100 destinations across Andhra Pradesh

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh has taken a step towards becoming India’s first artificial intelligence-powered tourism state by signing a three-year strategic partnership with travel technology company Explurger to deploy its NiVU AI (Neural Intelligence Vernacular Unified Model) platform across the state.An agreement was signed in the presence of tourism minister Kandula Durgesh, special chief secretary (tourism) Ajay Jain, APTA managing director Amrapali Kata, APTA CEO AAL Padmavathi and senior officials. Under the partnership, NiVU AI will be introduced at more than 100 tourist destinations and pilgrimage centres across Andhra Pradesh. The first phase will cover 30 major locations, with full implementation planned over the next three years.Speaking to the media here on Tuesday, Durgesh said the service would be provided free of cost, requiring only a QR code scan without the need to download any application. Tourists visiting forts, beaches, heritage monuments and temples will be able to interact with the AI platform through voice or text in more than 130 languages. By scanning the “Ask AI” QR code installed at tourist sites, visitors can instantly access information on the history, culture and significance of the location in their preferred language.

A live demonstration of the technology was conducted during the event.Durgesh said the project had already been successfully piloted at the Sri Panakala Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple in Mangalagiri, where hundreds of devotees have been using the AI service daily to learn about temple traditions and rituals in their native languages. The encouraging response prompted the govt to expand the initiative statewide.The minister described the project as a significant milestone towards achieving the Swarna Andhra Vision-2047 under the leadership of chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan. Besides enhancing the visitor experience, the platform will provide APTA with real-time analytics on tourist preferences, languages and behavioural patterns, enabling data-driven tourism planning. He also expressed confidence that the technology would be particularly useful during the upcoming Godavari Pushkaralu.Explurger founder and CEO Jitin Bhatia said Andhra Pradesh would become the first state where every major tourist destination could communicate with visitors in multiple languages through AI.