SANGAM

Buddhist Circuit planned

 SANGAM PRASAIN
JUNE 26, JUN 27 - Keeping in mind the development of Nepal’s major Buddhist destinations and promoting it as a key product in the upcoming Nepal Tourism Year 2011 (NTY-2011), the Himalaya Expedition (Himex) is soon launching a Buddhist pilgrimage tour package entitled “Buddhist Circuit”.
Two 42-seater deluxe shuttles buses are coming for this purpose. The organiser said it would start its trial in November.
The tour package is a ten-day affair that will cost around US$ 300 per person.  The tour package will be officially launched in January will manage the pilgrimages to different places in Nepal and India that are associated with the life and teachings of Lord Buddha.
Himex president Bikrum Pandey said that Buddhism holds a 40 percent market share of the total tourist movement in Asia, and Nepal being a major destination could reap huge benefit if it was promoted and marketed. According to him, the planned tour will begin from Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha, and will go through Kapilvastu, Shravasti, Kushin-agar, Sarnath, Bodhgaya, Vaishali, Rajgius, Nalanda and Patna before returning to Lumbini.
“In the preliminary stages, we will operate just two shuttle buses. As and when the tour gets momentum, we will add more to the fleet,” Pandey said.
Pandey said India had been operating such tours since long focusing on the India side while Nepal had failed to capitalise on it due to lack of innovations as Nepali tours operators focus only on adventurous tourism. As a result, over 90 percent tour operators for Buddhist pilgrims are from India.  
More importantly, the presence of just one international airport has deprived Nepal of attracting more Buddhist pilgrims to country, the organiser said. At present, there are four gateways to Buddhist tours, and surprisingly all of them are through India. The package, according to Pandey will help lure more domestic and international tourists in the Nepal Tourism Year 2011.
The organiser said that the estimated business for Buddhist Circuits was about 300,000 tourists. Of this, Nepal gets day journey from Indian itinerary for Lumbini sector and the benefit was very little.
Nepal is becoming a major spiritual tourism destination for East Asian travelers attracted by Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha, and other religious spots. The World Bank South Asia Economic Update 2010 reveals that travelers from East Asia made up 26.5 percent of the total tourist arrivals in Nepal.
Tourist arrivals from China, South Korea and Thailand for Buddhist pilgrim have been increasing in the past few years.
The number of Chinese arrivals in Nepal has increased by 185.97 percent in the last three years. Around 19,000 Chinese tourists visited Nepal in 2009. In the three years, tourist arrivals from South Korea, Singapore, Thailand soared by 68.40 percent, 164.26 percent, 83.48 percent respectively.