What is Atithi Devo Bhavah?

Why Atithi Devo Bhavah?

Inspiration behind Atithi Devo Bhavah ?

The seven point Atithi Devo Bhavah Program

The Charter of Atithi Devo Bhavah Training Program

Components of the Atithi Devo Bhavah Program

Role of the India Tourism Offices

What is Atithi Devo Bhavah?

A pioneer initiative by Ministry of Tourism, Government of India that will help tap into the full potential of tourism in India. Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has introduced “Atithi Devo Bhavah Program”- A nation wide campaign that aims at sensitising key stakeholders towards tourists, through a process of training and orientation. The endeavour is to boost tourism in India, which in turn would act as a catalyst for India’s economic growth. To launch a national level initiative that works at many levels to address all the above issues.

Atithi Devo Bhava aims at creating awareness about the effects of tourism and sensitizing people about preservation of our rich heritage & culture, cleanliness and warm hospitality. It also re-instills a sense of responsibility towards tourists and re-enforces the confidence of foreign tourist towards India as a preferred holiday destination.

The entire concept is designed to complement the ‘Incredible India’ Campaign.

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Why Atithi Devo Bhavah?

Last year we had 3.3 million visitors, but when you consider that Singapore gets 7 million a year. Thailand 9.6 million a year. Malaysia 11.5 million.

There is no reason why we can’t aim to increase our numbers by 100%. And that too would be just a beginning. However to do this we need to change our attitude towards those who visit us. Often tourists are Mistreated, Cheated and rudely dealt with.

It’s simple logic, if someone in a house is rude to you, as a guest, you don’t encourage your friends and relations to go there.

This is perhaps the reason why in spite of an incredible wealth of Tourist spots, Cultural Attractions, Natural Wonders and Destinations for the soul, India still isn’t amongst the top 15 tourist destinations Of the world. The time has definitely come to get together to change this.

To change our attitude.

We’ve lost touch with the hospitality we were famous for. Now it’s a time that we make an effort to make it a part of us again.

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Inspiration behind Atithi Devo Bhavah ?

Respect has always been an integral part of the Indian soul. From time immemorial we have always respected - Our teachers, our elders, our parents And our guests

Perhaps this is why a great Indian Emperor once observed'In Hindustan our manner is very respectful and our hearts are always open'

In many ways, at that time India was the ultimate destination for the enlightened travelers. Now, thousands of years later, we can bring that golden age back again.

This inspired us to go back to those years, when Indian hospitality set the standard for the world

And we found the keystone of what we want to do

Or guest is blessed.Our visitor is God.

That how we arrive at our mission called

'Atithi Devo Bhavah'

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The seven point Atithi Devo Bhavah Program

Atithi Devo Bhavah is a 7 point program of hospitality and training

Samvedan Sheelta or Sesitisation-Here we will sensitise the various sections of the tourism industry about how each of them to contribute for the growth of the tourism industry and how they will benefit from it.

Prashikshan or Training and Induction -This involves explaining to them the needs and expectation of the tourist, how they should respond and behave in order to satisfy them needs and meet those expectations.

Prerna or Motivation -This is motivation to participate in this program through various measures e.g. awards for the best worker in the segment. Because when you are enthused you can do wonders.

Pramani Karan or Certification -Certification to ensure standards shall be done at an appropriate stage in the training program

Pratipushti or Feedback -Feedback shall be obtained from tourists about the Service they have received and the experience they had, in order to improve the training program on a continuous basis

Samanya Bodh or General Awareness -The mass media communication campaign will be undertaken to create general awareness among the public about the necessity and the benefits of the Atithi Devo Bhavah programme.

Swamitwa or Ownership-The Atithi Devo Bhavah programme is a movement we will urge all segments of the Indian society to adopt, and look upon as their own.

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The Charter of Atithi Devo Bhavah Training Program

Hygiene & Cleanliness :Hygiene & Cleanliness shall cover the areas of product for e.g. vehicles like taxies, hotel rooms, restaurants, shops, etc., personal hygiene & cleanliness

of the person providing the service and cleanliness of the monuments / places of tourist interest.

Conduct and Behavior:The person concerned for e.g. the taxi driver / hotel employee shall behave in courteous and polite manner towards tourists.

Integrity and Honesty :The person providing service to the foreign tourists should display honesty and integrity.

Safety and Security:The safety and security of the tourists shall be ensured.

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Components of the Atithi Devo Bhavah Program

Training

In this we are going to train key stakeholders (of the tourism industry) in terms of changing their attitude and behaviour towards foreign tourists. The programme shall cover 4 areas:

Hygiene - This include personal hygiene of the person and also that of the product / service.

Conduct and behaviour - Politeness and basic courtesies in interacting with the foreign tourists.

Integrity - This implies that the person does not cheat the tourists and charges him a fair price for the service.

Safety and security - Person look after safety and security of the foreign tourists.

Key stakeholders being covered in the training include taxi drivers, baggage handlers at airport, tourist guides, hotel staff, employees of tour operators, immigration and customs officials etc.. 

Since these segments have diverse backgrounds, education and levels of sophistication, the training is divided into 2 categories:

Level 1 : Covers taxi drives, tourist guides and baggage handlers and porters.

Level 2 : The tour operators, shop owners / staff, hotel staff, immigration and customs officials.

This training program is initiated at the following places - Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Agra, Aurangabad, and Goa. In the next financial year this programme will be rolled out to other important cities in India.

These people will be given certificates which shall be valid for about 6 months after which they have to come and get themselves re-trained. Till 31st March 2005, we plan to train about 26,000 people. From April 2005 to March 2006 these 26,000 people will be retrained and another substantially large number of people will be trained. Once a threshold level in terms of number of people trained is achieved (likely by October 2005), we shall introduce Atithi Devo Bhavah as a symbol of quality. Foreign tourists will be told to look out for the Atithi Devo Bhavah badge / sticker which will mean that the service is of certain minimum quality. 

PR Road Shows

Besides training we are also undertaking PR Road shows with the tourism trade in order to get their active participation and ownership of the Atithi Devo Bhavah programme. Right now the contact programmes are being conducted in 7 cities mentioned earlier. After April 2005 contact programmes will be conducted in other cities in conjugation with the roll out of the training programme. 

Mass Media Communication  

We shall also be carrying out mass media communication in newspapers, TV, cinema and outdoors to create general awareness about the Atithi Devo Bhavah programme and to communicate to key stakeholders as to how it is in their own interest that foreign tourists be treated well and should go back happily from our country.

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Role of the India Tourism Offices

The India Tourism offices of Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Mumbai, Aurangabad, Goa and Hydrabad have a crucial role to play in the campaign. They act as nodal agencies to facilitate and coordinate the essential part of the program ie. Training. The nodal offices as we term it will have the following roles:

a)  Provide their cooperation and support to make the training programs run in an effective manner

b)  Registering the stakeholders who are contacting them for the purpose of training and deciphering the information to us, so that

they can be contacted and made a part of the training programc)  Re-registration of the stakeholders who underwent a training program after six months, the stakeholders will approach them for

the purpose of re-training and re-certification

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ATITHI DEVO BHAVAH

'Atithi Devo Bhavah' is a Social Awareness Campaign aimed at providing the inbound tourist a sense of being welcomed to the country. The campaign targets the general public as a whole, while focusing mainly on the stakeholders of the tourism industry. The main components of the campaign are training and orientation to taxi drivers, guides, immigration officers, tourist police and other personnel directly interacting with the tourists, while simultaneously creating a brand equity for the trained persons.

"Atithi Devo Bhavah" involves Sensitisation, Screening, Induction, Training & Orientation, Certification and Feedback of key stakeholders of the Tourism industry in India.

As Smt. Renuka Chowdhury, the Minister of State for Tourism (Independent charge) says 'Atithi Devo Bhavah' is a nationwide campaign aimed at sensitising people about India's rich cultural heritage, its preservation, cleanliness, hospitality and bringing out an attitudinal shift among the masses towards tourists. It is a symbolic representation of India's age old hospitality and with this campaign, we are trying to re-install in the stakeholders a sense of pride and responsibility towards tourists, while positioning India as a popular tourist destination worldwide."

The Ministry of Tourism is thus looking at both the macro and micro perspective by promoting destinations on the one hand and bringing about a sea change in the mindset and behaviour of people, on the other.

For more Information visit http://atithi.org.in

Atithi Devo Bhav

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Atithi Devo Bhavah means that guest is God and should be treated like a deity. Athithi

devo bhavah (ADB), which means, 'The guest is God' is Indian tourism's version of the

customer satisfaction slogan, 'customer is king', once preached by Peter Drucker. This

is Sanskrit verse taken from ancient Indian scriptures which were codifying the social

customs and cultures evolved by learned and wise people which later on became "code

of conduct" for Indian society. In atithi devo bhav emphasis was given in codifying a

procedure of Host-Guest relationship.

Contents

 [hide]

1 Atithi means guest

2 God is person

3 or Ritual of Pooja

4 Atithi devo bhavah

5 Campaign by Government of India

6 See also

7 References

[edit]Atithi means guest

It is the verse in the Taittiriya Upanishad that says "Matru devo bhava, Pitru devo

bhava, Acharya devo bhava, Atithi devo bhava". Means One should worship Mother,

Father, Teacher and Guests as God.

Tithi in Sanskrit means a date. In ancient time when means of communication were

limited and it was not possible to anticipate date of arrival of guest the word "Atithi" was

coined to depict a visiting person who had no fixed date of arrival or departure. "Devo"

means God and Bhav means Be/Is, literally meaning "Guest is God"

There is another interpretation very different from the above

[edit]God is person

[edit]or Ritual of Pooja

In Hinduism God is worshiped in 5 Step worship or 16 step worship this is known

as Panchopchar Poojan and Shodshopchar Poojanrespectively.

These five step in Panchopchar Poojan are

1. Dhoop, means fragrance

2. Deep, means lamp

3. Naivaidya, means eatables

4. Akshat means rice

5. Pushp means flower

The "Shodshopchar Poojan" is simply elaboration of all these steps and is detailed form

of ritual. These Five Steps are actually five formalities that shall be observed while

receiving guest.

1. Dhoop or fragrance-While receiving guest we must see that rooms have pleasant

fragrance, because this is the first thing that attract or distract your guest. A

pleasant fragrance will put your guest in good humor.

2. Deep or lamp-In ancient time when there was no electricity a lamp was put

between host and guest so that expression and body language remain clearly

visible and there is no gap between host and guest.

3. Naivaidya or eatables-Fruits and sweets made of milk were offered to guest.

4. Akshat or rice-It is symbol of being undivided. A tilak made by paste of vermilion

is put on forehead and rice grains are placed on it. This is highest form of

welcome in Hindu Indian families.

5. Pushp means flower-Offering a flower has always remained a gesture of goodwill

since dawn of civilization. When the guest depart the flower is like sweet

memories that haunt him for several days.[edit]Atithi devo bhavah

This healthy tradition of Indian Hospitality is still in vogue in India. It attracts millions of

tourist every year. Taking advantage of this Tourism Department of India has started

campaign of Atithi devo bhavahunder the theme The Incredible India.

[edit]Campaign by Government of India

Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India, is using this ancient adage to promote tourism by a

publicity campaign. They are selling ‘Incredible India’. The ministry also started a

campaign ‘Atithi Devo Bhavah’, which they claim, ‘A nation wide campaign that aims at

sensitizing key stakeholders towards tourists, through a process of training and

orientation’. This is what the minister for tourism says on this program, “'Atithi Devo

Bhavah' is a Social Awareness Campaign aimed at providing the inbound tourist a

sense of being welcomed to the country. The campaign targets the general public as a

whole, while focusing mainly on the stakeholders of the tourism industry. The main

components of the campaign are training and orientation to taxi drivers, guides,

immigration officers, tourist police and other personnel directly interacting with the

tourists, while simultaneously creating a brand equity for the trained persons. "Atithi

Devo Bhavah" involves Sensitisation, Screening, Induction, Training and Orientation,

Certification and Feedback of key stakeholders of the Tourism industry in India.”

Bollywood actor Aamir Khan to be brand ambassador for 'Atithi Devo Bhava' Campaign

for the Union Ministry of Tourism. This was decided at a meeting here today between

the Union Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni and Aamir.

- Atithi Devo Bhava :-    Atithi Devo Bhava campaign is a nation wide social awareness campaign which focuses on preservation of the rich heritage and culture, cleanliness and warm hospitality of India. Bollywood Film star Aamir Khan is the new brand ambassador of Atithi Devo Bhava project. This programme was launched by the Government of India in 2005 to compliment the “Incredible India” campaign of Ministry of Tourism.

    Globally, Indians are famous for their warm hospitality. This programme is an appropriate campaign to boost the Indian tourism industry.

Main Objectives

To preserve the rich heritage and culture of our country. To sensitize key stakeholders towards tourists through a

process of training and orientation.

To reinforce the sense of responsibility among Indians towards International tourists for making India as their ideal holiday destination.

Seven Points of the Atithi Devo Bhava Programme :-

- Samvedansheelta or Sensitization :-    This campaign will create awareness among the different segments of the tourism industry about how each of them can contribute to the growth of the Indian tourism industry and how it will benefit them.

- Prashikshan or Training and Induction :-              In this component, training is given to the people involved in the tourism industry. As part of the training, investors are made aware about the needs and expectations of the tourists and how they should respond and behave with the tourists to satisfy their needs.

- Prerna or Motivation :-    This component is used to motivate the investors to participate in this campaign via different means. For example : awards for the best worker in the segment. Awards help to motivate investors and also to increase their efficiency to deliver their best.

- Pramanikaran or Certification :-    Certification to ensure standards in the training program.

- Pratipushti or Feedback :-    It involves feedback from tourists about the different services they received and the experience they had. This feedback helps to improve the training programs on a regular basis.

- Samanya Bodh or General Awareness :-    Different mass media forms are used to create awareness among the public about the advantages of the Atithi Devo Bhava programme.

- Swamitwa or Ownership :-    Swamitwa programme urges all segments of the Indian society to adopt and look after the culture, heritage and tourists as they take care of their own.

The Charter of Atithi Devo Bhava Training Program :-    Aamir Khan as Brand ambassador of this campaign is spreading awareness among people and investors of tourism industry about various tourism related issues like:

- Hygiene and Cleanliness :-    To maintain hygiene and cleanliness in tourist spots, tourist vehicles, hotel rooms, restaurants, shops etc.

- Conduct and Behavior :-     People who interact with tourists shall behave in a polite manner. For example: tourist guides, taxi drivers, immigration officers, tourist police and other personnel.

- Integrity and Honesty :-    While providing services to the foreign tourists, honesty and integrity should be maintained.

- Safety and Security :-    The safety and security of the foreign tourists shall be ensured who visit India so that they will cherish the memorable moments of their visit.

    Along with Aamir Khan,Film lyricist Prasoon Joshi and film director Rakesh Omprakash Mehra are also involved in promoting and preserving the rich cultural heritage of India.

New Delhi , Aug 8 (ANI): Bollywood actor Aamir Khan to be brand ambassador for Atithi Devo Bhava Campaign for the Union Ministry of Tourism.

This was decided at a meeting here today between the Union Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni and Aamir Khan.

Khan will promote the Tourism Ministrys efforts both for domestic and foreign tourists through Ad-campaigns in print and electronic media to increase social awareness about the needs of the domestic and foreign tourists specially women tourists.

Addressing the media persons after the meeting Khan said he will not charge anything from the Ministry of Tourism for such campaigns.

Soni said the mass appeal of the noted actor will further boost Tourism Ministrys efforts to make people aware about the safety and security of tourists, hygiene, sanitation and vandalisation of historical monuments.

She said her Ministrys efforts will be to have an idea exchange with Khan on how to sensitize people against harassment of tourists particularly women tourists.

Tourism sector has vast potential both for employment generation and better income for those who are associating with it, she said.

Safe guarding of our rich cultural heritage while promoting tourism is an important issue and the association of Khan will definitely bring desired results, she added. (ANI)

More at : Aamir Khan to be brand ambassador for Atithi Devo Bhava Campaign http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/business/aamir-khan-to-be-brand-ambassador-for-atithi-devo-bhava-campaign_10081605.html#ixzz0h2LFJe1l

Cultural Heritage of India

Customs and Rituals in India

India is a melting pot of different faiths and religions. The diverse culture of India makes it the most unique country in the world. Customs and

rituals are an integral part of the Indian way of life. These customs and traditions traverse the boundary of religion, cast and creed. Customs and

rituals of India are what attract many tourists to this myriad land.

One gets a glimpse of the customs and rituals in India as soon as one is welcomed in

traditional Indian style. 'Atithi Devo Bhava' is what inspires the hospitality business in India, which is what reflects the most popular custom of India. 'Atithi Devo Bhava' means that guest is God and should be treated like a deity. This is what is expressed in welcoming a guest with a garland and putting vermilion on the forehead

of the guest. There are a number of such customs that are part of Indian society. Even the Tourism Ministry,

Government of India has launched the 'Atithi Devo Bhava' campaign to make people aware of India's rich cultural heritage and the philosophy of

treating a tourist like God.

Indians are steeped into various customs and traditions. Right from the birth to death, there is hardly any occasion that does not have an elaborate ceremony. Soon after the birth of a child, an elaborate

ceremony to name the child takes place, which is marked by chanting of

slokas and singing of hymns. Weddings are grand affairs in India, as they follow various customs and rituals. So much so, many foreigners come to India to marry in Indian style. Rajasthan is the place that is most popular

for royal weddings in India.

Even cremation is done according to rituals after one passes away.

Taking a heritage tour to India is one of the best ways to know more about the fascinating aspects of Indian customs and rituals. Festivals are

other important occasions when one can see different customs and rituals followed by people. Come on a fascinating journey to the myriad

land of different faiths and unique cultures with Heritage in India.