Bodh Gaya Tourism institute to get its own building at cost of ₹50 crores

Bodh Gaya based Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM), run by the ministry of tourism, will now have its own building, developed over five- acre land with an estimated budget of ₹50 crores, said the government.

The Union ministry of tourism, which was looking for a suitable piece of land for the Institute since 2018, was allocated five acre of land in Bodh Gaya in February by the state government and construction work for the building will start soon. At present, the institute is running from the premises of Bihar State Institute of Hotel Management (SIHM) at Bodh Gaya.

Union minister of state for tourism, Prahlad Singh Patel made the announcement in Parliament on Tuesday in response to a related question by Rajya Sabha member and former deputy chief minister of Bihar, Sushil Kumar Modi.

IITTM, Bodh Gaya is the seventh such institute in the country and it has been offering skill development training programmes in six foreign languages including Korean, Thai, Chinese, Japanese Burmese and Sri Lankan to cater to the requirements of inbound foreign tourists in Bodh Gaya.

IITTM was planned as an autonomous organisation under the ministry of tourism to offer education, training, research and consultancy in this sector. The first such Institute was set up in Delhi in 1983. The other six are in Bhubaneshwar, Gwalior, Noida, Goa, Nellore and Shillong.

“While all other IITTMs had their own buildings, the one at Bodh Gaya has been operating as a part of the IITTM, Bhubaneshwar from the SIHM building located at Bodh Gaya. The Union tourism minister, Prahlad Singh Patel has informed that as the state government has made the land available, now this Institute will also have its own building,” Sushil Kumar Modi, said.

Bodh Gaya was selected as the site for IITTM in the state, considering the need of trained tourism professionals there. The city has Mahabodhi temple, a Unesco World Heritage Site, which attracts tourists from many Buddhist and even non – Buddhist countries. Guides trained in different foreign languages are also needed there in maximum numbers, he added.

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According to the Union tourism minister’s reply, IITTM Bodh Gaya has been offering the short term training programme in six foreign languages and 525 tourism professionals were trained during the two academic sessions in 2018-19 and 2019-2020, Modi said.

Abhay Pratap Singh from IITTM, Bhubaneswar, said Bodh Gaya based IITTM was set up as an extension of the Bhuvaneshwar centre of the IITTM. “It was launched in 2018 to cater to the demands for skilled and trained language interpreters and guides at Bodh Gaya. “At present, it’s been offering training in only six foreign languages. Later training for more foreign languages will also be planned there,” he said.