The office, which plays the role of a catalyst between state and central government bodies, corporates and other agencies involved in the development of tourism in the southern states, plans to upgrade its interactive voice response system (IVRS) to include information on the entire country and not just the southern region.

The system provides round-the-clock information on tourist spots, hotels, transport and conducted tours in the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala besides the Union Territories of Lakswadeep and Pondicherry.

According to regional director (south) Shahir Mustafa Naqvi, this upgradation will be in place by March 31, 2000. The upgraded IVRS will provide websites of all state government tourism departments. Tourists wanting detailed information can access these websites, he said. It will also have a `fax on demand', where acaller can leave his fax number and get a hard copy of the information he seeks.

The Chennai office had taken the lead in introducing IVRS, developed by Siemens, in April this year for facilitating access to information to domestic and foreign tourists, even after office hours.

The regional office (south) was also the first to create an exclusive e-mail and website on August 15, 1998.

Naqvi said that the tourism ministry was very keen to install `touch screen' terminals at Chennai airports. Hyderabad airport already has one that provides detailed information on Andhra Pradesh. The ministry also plans to network their offices in the region. Cost-effective methods, like using fibre-optic cables, are being explored for online connectivity. This is necessary for speedier communication as congestion on internet is very high, said Naqvi.

The regional office has recruited CMC, a software training company, for computer upgradation of its tourist offices. "We are also trying to change the communication culturein the offices, by encouraging use of e-mail over fax," said Naqvi.