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Female tourists should not wear skirts or walk alone at night 'for their own safety' in India's small towns and cities, the country's tourism minister said.

Mahesh Sharma was discussing tourist security in the north Indian city of Agra, site of the Taj Mahal.

He said foreign arrivals to India were issued a welcome kit that included safety advice for women.

He said: 'In that kit they are given dos and don'ts.

'These are very small things like, they should not venture out alone at night in small places, or wear skirts, and they should click the photo of the vehicle number plate whenever they travel and send it to friends.'

He added: 'For their own safety, women foreign tourists should not wear short dresses and skirts... Indian culture is different from the western.'

The welcome kit is among a number of measures introduced to address declining rates of female tourism in India after the high-profile gang-rape and murder of a Delhi medical student in 2012, and a number of subsequent attacks on female tourists.