World Yoga Day celebrated in Madhya Pradesh with the message of ‘Yoga with Tourism’

To mark International Yoga Day, Paryatan Sakhi performed Yoga at UNESCO World Heritage Sites Khajuraho, Bhimbetka, Sanchi Stupa, Pachmarhi, Mandu, Gwalior and other tourist places of Madhya Pradesh. Yoga was performed to give the message of ‘Yoga with Tourism’

More than 5 thousand Paryatan Sakhi performed Yoga at 50 tourist places across the state. Local women who are Paryatan Sakhi took part in this grand yoga event as an effort by the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board to motivate women towards tourism. Alongside the International Yoga Day celebration, Paryatan Sakhi who never visited the destination earlier got an opportunity to visit the sites and get introduced to the beauty, glorious history and rich culture. So that they can become aware of tourist places and inspire others also to visit these captivating and historical tourist destinations. The yoga programs were organized at 50 tourist places in 20 clusters with the help of project partner organizations under the Safe Tourism Project for Women.

Yoga practice was done keeping the ‘Yoga for self and society’ theme in mind. The event was marked by the presence of project support organisations of MPTB, local administration, members of the District Archaeological Tourism and Culture Council, stakeholders of the project, hoteliers, girls/women who received skill and self-defence training, school and college students, and heads of establishments associated with tourism ventures.

The Safe Tourist Destination for Women initiative by the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board in collaboration with the Nirbhaya Fund of the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India is no less than a benchmark to connect and make women feel safe at tourist destinations to increase the number of women tourists. Under this initiative, 10 thousand women are being trained and linked with tourism related service sector and 40 thousand women and girls are being given self-defence training. Along with women getting employment in the tourism sector, the sense of comfort and security among women tourists especially solo women travellers is increasing. So far, more than 8 thousand women have been trained in 48 job roles in the tourism sector. With the motto of “Dil Khol ke Ghumo, Hindustan ke dil mein aap safe hai” the efforts being made by the Tourism Board in collaboration with the community are leading to a significant increase in the number of female solo tourists in the state.