Madhya Pradesh tourism.
Madhya Pradesh is stepping into the next era of tourism, with artificial intelligence set to become part of the visitor experience across the state. Explurger has signed a landmark three-year Memorandum of Understanding with the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board to deploy NiVU AI across 100 tourism destinations, bringing conversational artificial intelligence directly to travellers at some of the state's most iconic temples, forts, heritage sites, wildlife destinations and cultural attractions.
Under the partnership, NiVU AI - Explurger's tourism-focused conversational AI platform - will be deployed through multiple QR-enabled touchpoints at participating destinations, transforming conventional information boards into intelligent, interactive gateways to discovery. Explurger has also been designated the Official AI & Social Media Partner of the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board for the duration of the programme.
The partnership was announced during the ongoing MP Travel Mart 2026 in Bhopal, marking a major step in Madhya Pradesh's ambition to integrate AI into its tourism ecosystem and redefine how travellers discover, understand and experience the state.
Madhya Pradesh now joins the growing group of destinations globally harnessing artificial intelligence to enhance tourism - and becomes one of the few states in the world to place AI at the heart of the destination experience.
The MoU was signed and exchanged by Jitin Bhatia, Founder & CEO, Explurger, in the presence of Dr. Mohan Yadav, Hon'ble Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh; Shri Dharmendra Singh Lodhi, Hon'ble Tourism Minister, Madhya Pradesh; Shri Ashok Barnwal, Chief Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh; Dr. Ilayaraja T., Managing Director, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board; and Dr. Abhay Arvind Bedekar, IAS, Additional Managing Director, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board, along with senior officials and distinguished dignitaries.
The first year of the three-year programme will focus on 30 flagship destinations, to be jointly finalised by Explurger and the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board within 90 days of signing the MoU. The programme will subsequently expand across a total of 100 tourism destinations in the state.
At the heart of the initiative is NiVU AI, designed to turn a destination into an interactive conversation. Visitors can simply scan a QR board and engage with an AI-powered travel companion through voice or text in more than 130 languages. Instead of simply reading information, travellers can ask questions, uncover stories, understand history and culture, discover nearby attractions, find local experiences, explore hidden gems, and build relevant itineraries in real time.
Multiple NiVU AI touchpoints across a destination can create an intelligent layer around the visitor journey, providing contextual information based on where travellers are and encouraging them to look beyond a single attraction and explore the wider destination.
The partnership also brings a powerful tourism intelligence layer to Madhya Pradesh. Through an aggregated and anonymised dashboard, the state can gain insights into visitor interactions, the questions travellers ask, languages being used, interests and engagement patterns across destinations. These insights can help inform tourism planning, visitor engagement and future destination development.
The technology is also expected to play a role in preparations for Simhastha Mahaparv 2028 in Ujjain, when millions of pilgrims and travellers are expected to converge on the city. Multilingual AI assistance can help visitors access destination information, discover nearby attractions and navigate their journeys with greater ease.
For Explurger, the Madhya Pradesh partnership marks another major milestone in its expanding collaboration with government tourism bodies to bring AI directly into the travel experience. It builds on the company's work with Andhra Pradesh and Goa, where NiVU AI is being introduced to create smarter, more interactive and technology-enabled destination experiences.
The larger vision traces back to a defining moment during India's G20 Presidency, when Explurger Founder and CEO Jitin Bhatia was among a select group of Indian startup founders invited to present the company's platform to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The presentation showcased Explurger's vision for AI-powered travel and the potential of technology to strengthen India's position as a global tourism destination.
For Explurger, that moment became a catalyst for a larger commitment - to use technology not simply to help people discover India digitally, but to transform what happens when they actually arrive.
"The G20 opportunity was the moment we as a company decided that our work would not just be about global travel - it would also be about serving India first. The Madhya Pradesh partnership is a direct fulfilment of the commitment we made during G20," said Jitin Bhatia, Founder and CEO, Explurger.
He added, "Madhya Pradesh has everything a modern traveller is looking for - history, spirituality, wildlife, culture and extraordinary places waiting to be discovered. With NiVU AI, we are bringing intelligence directly into that journey. Our goal is simple - make every destination more accessible, interactive and meaningful, without taking away the joy of exploration. Technology should not replace exploration. It should make exploration richer."
The statewide deployment represents one of the most significant deployments of NiVU AI to date, taking the platform from individual destination touchpoints to a large-scale, state-wide tourism ecosystem.
The initiative also connects Madhya Pradesh with Explurger's growing global community of 25Mn+ users across 75+ countries, creating another powerful channel through which travellers from India and around the world can discover the state's heritage, spirituality, wildlife and cultural experiences.
As artificial intelligence rapidly evolves from a digital discovery tool into an active layer of the physical travel experience, Madhya Pradesh is placing itself at the forefront of this transformation.
With NiVU AI, the destination is no longer just something travellers see. It becomes something they can talk to, question, understand, and explore.
Madhya Pradesh is not just entering the AI era. It is bringing AI into the journey.
