Visakhapatnam’s Buddhist Heritage Thrills Thai Visitors

Places like NagarjunaKonda, Amravati, Guntupalli, Ghantasala, Bhimavaram, Adurru, Kapavaram, Kotturu, Thotlakonda, Bavikonda, Pavurallakonda, Bojjana Konda and Salihundam have the potential to be turned into popular tourist destinations with the right initiative

The small number notwithstanding, foreigners touring Buddhist monuments in and around Visakhapatnam are thrilled over their historic importance and heritage value. "There's not much publicity as we were not aware of the location of such beautiful locations in this part of the world," Dr Nathalphon Boonnam, a Buddhist tourist from Thailand told travel industry representatives during an interaction here.

He along with others who came in a group from Bangkok felt that if a Buddhist circuit is developed, it will certainly bring a large number of Buddhist followers from South East Asia, Japan, Korea and China to Andhra Pradesh.

Right from Amaravati, the new capital under construction to Salihundam on the banks of River Vamsadhara in Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh has several Buddhist locations of historic importance, which can be marketed as a tourist delight for the Buddhist followers.

There has been a demand from the travel industry for a long time to connect Amaravati, Guntur, Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam and other areas in Andhra Pradesh with Dhaulagiri, also known as Dhauli which has Ashoka Edifice on the banks of River in neighbouring Odisha. The monument symbolises Ashoka turned into a Dharmaashoka from Chandashoka after seeing bloodshed in the Kalinga War. Several ancient Buddhist stupas and monasteries were found at Salihundam in Srikakulam district. The hillocks overlooking the Bay of Bengal from Odisha border till Visakhapatnam are dotted with several Buddhist stupas.

Tourism Minister Kandula Durgesh during the visit to ITB Convention in Berlin early this month said they are keen to promote tourist sites including the Buddhist monuments in the ASEAN countries and other parts. Visakhapatnam has direct flights from Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur while Vijayawada has a flight from Sharjah. Promoting Buddhist locations will ensure inbound tourism, failure of which led to curtailing/withdrawal of some international flights in the past due to low occupancy from both ways. There are about 200 million Buddhists in ASEAN and about 620 million Buddhists in China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.

"We received the first batch of Buddhist tourists due to our initiative to visit Visakhapatnam," said K Vijay Mohan, president of Andhra Pradesh Tourism Forum (APTF). He also called for aggressive marketing to bring more tourists.

Vijay Mohan told the Bizz Buzz that the Thai team was thrilled to visit Bavikonda, Thotlakonda, Pavuralakonda and Bojjannakonda. Students from Sri Prakash School presented a cultural programme in the presence of District Collector Harendhira Prasad, Joint Collector Mayur Ashok and VMRDA Commissioner K Viswanathan.

Vijay Mohan said the travel industry has been batting for developing a Buddhist circuit for a long time by developing museums and infrastructure to undertake package tours. He said places like NagarjunaKonda, Amravati, Guntupalli, Ghantasala, Bhimavaram, Adurru, Kapavaram, Kotturu, Thotlakonda, Bavikonda, Pavurallakonda, Bojjana Konda and Salihundam have the potential to be turned into popular tourist destinations with the right initiative.

A tourism conclave held by Andhra Pradesh and Vietnam at Vijayawada recently underlined the need to create stories of all our Buddhist sites. The Tourism Minister and Ajay Jain, Special Secretary, Tourism assured to highlight the significance of the Buddhist monuments in the State. It is pertinent to mention here that in 2006, spiritual leader Dalai Lama had given Kalachakra initiation at Amravati.