Government eyes funds from World Bank, Japan to develop & promote Buddhist Circuit

The tourism ministry is in talks with the World Bank and the Japanese government for funding of “a few billion dollars” to develop and promote the Buddhist Circuit in India.
Promoting the Buddhist Circuit and trails in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh is critical to the ministry’s target of doubling foreign tourist arrivals and revenue in the next three years and requires “big money,” tourism minister KJ Alphons told ET. More than 10 million foreign tourists visited India in 2017, bringing in $27 billion in revenue.

The ministry is also considering developing national monuments such as the Taj Mahal and the Qutub Minar into 24-hour attractions with improved infrastructure and will ramp up advertising and expenditure on promoting India as the land of yoga and Ayurveda this year.

The Buddhist Circuit is a route that follows in the footsteps of the Buddha in India. The sites on the route — all over 2,500 years old — are among the most significant and revered for all Buddhists. They include Bodhgaya in Bihar where the Buddha attained enlightenment, and Sarnath and Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh, where he gave his first teachings and died. The Buddhist Circuit is a key pilgrimage destination for 450 million practicing Buddhists.

“We have put in quite a bit of money already, but we are also in touch with the World Bank as well as the Japanese government to see if we could have some big money coming in so that we can create the necessary infrastructure here,” said Alphons. “Talks are still at the preliminary stage. If they give us money, subject to approvals from the finance ministry, I will take it up. It will be a few billion dollars as we want to create world-class infrastructure.”

The ministry will start by focusing on Buddhist trails in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and gradually move towards Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

“We need to create great infrastructure around national monuments like Taj Mahal and Qutub Minar. All over the world, a lot of money is made and you get a lot of visitors if you create the necessary infrastructure there. If we just have the entrance fee it will amount to nothing. So we would also like to convert these monuments into 24 hour destinations so that the numbers can increase and we can also charge during the night hours,” Alphons added.

The ministry plans to ramp up the promotion of India as the land of yoga and Ayurveda this year and will focus on country-specific publicity in the global markets.

More than 1 million overseas tourists visited India in January compared with 983,000 a year earlier, according to estimates by the tourism ministry. Foreign exchange earnings from tourism last month rose to ₹17,725 crore from ₹16,135 crore a year ago.

Close to half a million travellers visited India for medical reasons last year and their numbers are growing, Alphons said.

“Medical tourism is another area where we want to give the big push,” the minister said. “A lot of hospitals are providing services of international standards and Indian doctors are good. Promoting India as a medical destination will mean more publicity.”