Patna: Soon all information related to Bihar tourism will be available at the tap of a key on your smartphone.
The department will launch a mobile app, the broader outline of which has been almost finalised. This was done after a long deliberation and study of similar apps having been launched in states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat among others.
The details of all important tourists destinations and those related to various tourist circuits like Buddha, Jain, Ramayan, Gandhi and others being developed would be available on the app. There would be a separate information for those willing to explore the state's wildlife.
One important feature of this app would be about the kind of guides for tourist willing to visit Bihar and this would provide details like how to reach the destination, what are the various modes of transport available, distance of the places from where one wants to come to a particular destination.
The app would take special care of helping the tourists who are new to Bihar and for this purpose maps, details of help centres, tourist information centres, contact details of department officials and the phone numbers of senior police officers and the nearest police station and others would be provided. "The department is also considering to provide a link button for providing details about the services offered by the Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation on this app and a final decision would soon be taken after meeting of senior officials," an official in the tourism department said.
He said the basic idea of linking BSTDC services to the app is to make things easier for tourists as the corporation gives several services and special packages for providing connectivity to the major tourist destinations of the state.
Moreover, added the official, the BSTDC provides hotel services at several places in the state and also sets up special lodging facilities in important fairs. "We intend to provide online booking facilities for these facilities through the app itself so that tourists need not worry about their stay during their visit in the state."
The request for proposal document is being finalised after which bids would be invited from agencies specialising in app development and a timeframe would be given to launch the app.
"The bidding would be a two-stage process. In the first stage, agencies would be shortlisted which have the technical expertise as per norms fixed by the department. In the second stage the lowest bidder from amongst the technically qualified agencies would be selected," said the official.
Also, the selected agency would be given the task of maintaining the app for one to two years in the beginning and the main aim of the maintenance work is to keep the information on the app updated.
