Bhopal, June 21 : The International Yoga Day on Friday came as an opportunity for a number of people to explore the beauty and the heritage of different tourist spots in Madhya Pradesh.

The Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board (MPTB) and Union Ministry of Tourism organised Yoga at more than 50 tourist places across the state, including Unesco world heritage sites Khajuraho and Sanchi Stupa.

As the theme for this year's Yoga Day was -- "Safe Tourist Destination for Women" -- more than 5,000 women including foreign tourists participated in the Yoga Day celebrations at different tourist places.

Many of them visited for the first time at any tourist place and get an opportunity to visit the sites and also get introduced to the glorious history and rich culture, said Anurag Uike, who heads the communication department of MPTB.

"The idea was to motivate women towards tourism. Therefore, a maximum number of women were invited to participate at every tourist place. Also because they can become aware of tourist places and inspire others also to visit these captivating and historical tourist destinations," Uike said.

He said that more than 10,000 women are being trained and linked with tourism-related service sector and 40,000 women and girls are being provided 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 also increasing.

So far, more than 8,000 women have been trained in 48 job roles in the tourism sector, Uike said.

/IANS