![Kalika Mata Temple [Image source: gujarattourism.com]](https://img.theweek.in/content/dam/week/news/biz-tech/images/2023/3/6/kalika-mata-temple.jpg "Kalika Mata Temple [Image source: gujarattourism.com]")
In a first in the country, the Gujarat government on Monday introduced a dashboard that will provide real-time data of tourists visiting tourist destinations in the state.
Called AATITHYAM (Aggregate of Accessible Tourist Information on Tourism & Hospitality of Yatra And their Memories), it will have data of main 109 tourist destinations of Gujarat. Tourism minister Mulubhai Bera, who inaugurated the dashboard, said of the 109 destinations, 24 are religious/spiritual, 24 fall in the category of laser tourism, 18 heritage tourism and 22 business tourism sites.
The real-time data is expected to help in framing policies and is also likely to increase job opportunities.
The data will be collected in coordination with 15 departments.
Gujarat Tourism secretary Hareet Shukla told THE WEEK that the Government of India had been suggesting for some time now to set up dashboards for various departments.
Explaining how the data can be put to use, he said policies can be framed based on the data gathered and if one feels that some particular tourist destination is growing at a faster pace, the development can be planned at a much faster pace.
Out of 109 destinations, around 40 are ticketed and on the rest of the destinations, parameters given by the Government of India are put to use.
Shukla said in the last one year they have been analysing the data, based on the soft launch, and this year they will be able to compare month on month figures as well.
According to him, it will help in creating job opportunities as the tourist places develop.
He also pointed out that for financial year 2023-24, the government has proposed a budget of Rs 2077 crore for the tourism sector, the highest in the history of the state.
