Centre gives big thrust to boost Buddhist Circuit in AP

New Delhi/Amaravati: The Union Tourism Ministry has aggressively started tourism promotion with participation of the industry stakeholders, especially after the dramatic improvement of Covid situation in the country and achievement of vaccination targets.

According to the Union ministry officials on Tuesday, Buddhist Tourism is one of the prime focused tourism products that India has to offer among its diverse tourism products. The Tourism Ministry has undertaken various promotional activities for the promotion of tourism and these activities are primarily aimed at increasing awareness about tourist destinations, attractions and products.

AP finds a prime place in South India in the circuit. The officials stated that under 'Swadesh Darshan Scheme', 5 projects worth Rs 325.53 crore have been sanctioned for Buddhist Circuit development in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat and those sanctioned projects are under different stages of implementation.

As part of it, the potential of Andhra Pradesh is being discussed as one of the prime focused tourism products that India has to offer among its diverse tourism products. Minister of State for Tourism & Defence Ajay Bhatt, who flagged off the Buddhist Circuit special train from Safdarjung Railway Station to cover the North Indian sites in Delhi on Monday, said about 200 delegates would be discussing the potential of Buddhist Circuit in the next three days. A detailed plan will be chalked out to develop the circuit in North and South India.

Andhra Pradesh which has the potential to attract tourists from China and Japan to the world famous Buddhist sites of Amaravati and Nagarjuna Konda which are associated with Acharya Nagarjuna, the propounder of Madhyamika Philosophy and propagator of Mahayana Buddhism, will be discussed.

It may be recalled that an agreement ensued between the Bihar and Andhra Pradesh governments some seven years ago to extend the tour packages as part of the Swadesh Darshan Programme up to Amaravati, Nagarjuna Konda and a few important Buddhist sites around Visakhapatnam. However, it made little progress.

The ministry officials stated that Buddhist tourism in India as a tourism product had a tremendous potential. The Indian Buddhist heritage was of great interest to the followers of Buddhism all over the world. It had remained a vital force, an inspiration, and a guide to India's great traditions and customs. The Ministry of Tourism had leveraged these factors to showcase India as 'The Land of Buddha'.

They said a four-fold development strategy that focuses on improving the connectivity via air, rail and roads, enhancing the tourism infrastructure and dependent services, streamlining branding and promotion and showcasing the culture and heritage had been undertaken.

Apart from exhibitions, promotions and displays, the ministry is planning to target overseas tourists in a big way in the upcoming International Buddhist Conclave which is scheduled from November 17-21, 2021. Campaigns in key source markets like Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, etc, are also on cards.

The ministry, the officials stated, also worked on projects for capacity building that include Linguistic Tourist Facilitator training in Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Chinese languages. 525 people have been trained in these languages between 2018 to 2020, and 600 more would be trained between 2020 and 2023. This is especially important as Buddhism has branched out to a large part of Asia, and 97% of the world's Buddhists are concentrated in East and Southeast Asia alone. Hence it is important to develop a linguistic connect with tourists.