AP Can Achieve Rs 25k Cr Tourism Revenue In 5-Yrs With Buddhist Circuit Development

The Andhra Pradesh Tourism Forum President, K Vijay Mohan, advocates for a multi-pronged approach to boost AP’s tourism revenue. This includes developing a Buddhist Circuit in collaboration with Odisha, leveraging Andhra Pradesh's rich Buddhist heritage to attract tourists from ASEAN and other Buddhist-majority countries. The plan emphasizes targeted marketing, improved infrastructure, and the creation of compelling narratives around Buddhist sites to enhance the state's tourism offerings

Andhra Pradesh Tourism Forum (APTF) President K Vijay Mohan has called for drawing up an action plan to explore developing a Buddhist Circuit by tying up with Odisha government to showcase the historical importance of how Buddhism spread from Dhaulagiri in the neighbouring State to Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Guntur and other others in coastal areas of Andhra so as to achieve the target of Rs 25,000 crore revenue from tourism in the next five years.

The New Tourism Policy unveiled by the TDP-led NDA coalition government has aimed at increasing the revenue from tourism to Rs 25,000 crore by rejuvenating the tourism sector by offering a slew of incentives to areas identified as niche tourism and promoting theme-based tourism.

While welcoming the various features of the new policy, Vijay Mohan, who is also the president of Tours and Travel Association of Andhra (TTAA), told Bizz Buzz that there is a growing need for target marketing in ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) as Visakhapatnam has direct flights to Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia and flights are also connected to the whole of ASEAN and SDEAN Buddhist (Sri Lankan, Dharmapala East Asian and Nepal) and also and China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. Vijayawada has a direct flight to Sharjah. Talks are in progress to introduce more international flights from Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada.

Vijay Mohan said people in the ASEAN and SDEAN, who are of Indian origin or have some ancient roots in the sub-continent with allegiance to Buddhist ideals should be identified as the target market to boost revenue from tourism.

On the Monastery Circuit mooted by Vijay Mohan, he told Bizz Buzz that we need to work on promoting a Buddhist monastery at one of our important monuments. As a pilot project we can request Tsulglagkhang Monastery, Hemis Monastery, Tabo Monastery, Thiksey Monastery, Tawang Monastery, Bylakuppe Monastery (Namdraling), Shashur Monastery, Ghum Monastery, Kye Gompa Monastery, Lingdum Monastery, Alchi Gompa Monastery, Matho Monastery, Nako Monastery, Rumtek Monastery or the creator of Samten Hills in Dalat, Vietnam, monk from Ladhak in India Drubwang Sonam Jorfel Rinpoche, to start Buddhist prayers at Amravati, Thotlakonda or any of the other Buddhist sites and also set up a Buddhist Monastery as the school of Buddhism will attract a lot of Buddhist travellers from across the world.

Vijay Mohan also pointed out that Odisha gets about 15,000 Europeans every year to visit their tribal circuits. "As a State we have not even designed our tribal circuit. We have to look at the Konda Dora and Bagatha tribes in the Araku area, the Savara, Jatapu (or Khonds), and Gadaba communities in Vizianagaram District, Jatapus, Saoras, Savaras tribes in Srikakulam district.

Asked why Buddhist from ASEAN and SDEAN and China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea should be targeted, he said India is the birthplace of Buddhism, and Andhra Pradesh has significant sites. Buddhists share similar values and beliefs, fostering connections.

Visiting AP’s sacred Buddhist sites can deepen spiritual understanding. There is huge potential to attract tourists from ASEAN countries. People from Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and few other countries will show interest to visit but at present, they are not aware of the Buddhist connection of Andhra, he lamented.

"We can target about 200 million Buddhists in ASEAN and about 620 million Buddhists in China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. For instance, 31 per cent in Singapore are Buddhists, 93 per cent in Thailand, 60 per cent in Vietnam, 65 per cent in Laos, 95 per cent in Cambodia, 19 per cent in Malaysia, 67 per cent in Japan, 33 per cent in China, 22 per cent in Korea and 54 per cent in Mongolia."

Stating that India is the birthplace of Buddhism, with significant sites like Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, and Kushinagar, SDEAN Buddhists share similar values and beliefs, fostering connections. "Visiting our sacred Buddhist sites can deepen spiritual understanding," he said, adding there is huge potential for tapping tourists from Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan who have a large number of people embracing Buddhism.

Vijay Mohan said, "We have around 12 million Indian origin people in ASEAN countries. Besides Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, Indonesia has 1.3 million Buddhists and Myanmar an estimated 2.9 million.”

Besides Buddhist monuments, which should be protected with required tourist amenities and connectivity from nearby airports, efforts should also be made to showcase the famous Shakti Peetas and temples including Tirumala Venkateswara temple, Simhadri Appanna temple near Visakhapatnam and Kanaka Durga temple in Vijayawada, he added.

"We have three Shakti Peetas out of the 18 Maha Shakti Peetas in our State at Srisailam, Pithapuram and Draksharam. And the other temples of AP at Tirupati, Arsavalli, Srikurmam, Srimukalingam, Simachalam, Annavaram, Pattiseema, Ramanarayana, Kanakadurga, Panakala Narisimha swamy temple, Mopidevi, Charurmukha Brahma Lingeshwata, Pavitra Sangam, Dwaraka Tirumala, Antarvedi, Pancharamas, Puttaparthi, Ahobilam, Srikalahasti, Kanipakam and Puspagiri, Yaganti should be showcased as tourism centres with good package trips or customised trips as per the preference of the foreign tourists.

The need of the hour, he said is to create a Buddhist Circuit along with a Monastery Circuit. "We need to create the Buddhist Circuit around our sites which would include Nagarjuna Konda, Amravati, Guntupalli, Ghantasala, Bhimavaram, Adurru, Kapavaram, Kotturu, Thotlakonda, Bavikonda, Pavurallakonda, Bojjana Konda and Salihundam," he stated.

On the need to spread the story with the theme ‘The Footsteps of Buddha,’ he said to get the Buddhist to visit AP's sites, the need is to create stories on the historical significance of the Buddhist sites which is the most important aspect to draw the Buddhist to spare their time and spend in Andhra Pradesh.

"In 2006, Dalai Lama gave the Kalachakra initiation in Amravati. He said he considered the site very important because the Buddha gave his first Kalachakra sermon at Amravati which is the biggest story and we create a story around all sites and we end at the Kalinga War which was fought at Dhauli in Bhubaneswar,” he added.