India launches tourism campaign targeting Chinese Buddhists
Delhi:Eyeing China’s fast expanding outbound tourism market, which has, so far, largely bypassed India, the Indian government has launched a tourism campaign targeting the world’s fastest-growing Buddhist population with a direct sales pitch: visit India and reconnect with your faith.
Indian officials hope that promoting the ‘Buddhist circuit train’ in China, which has been in operation since 2007 and stops along several pilgrimage sites in northern India, can help boost the low numbers of Chinese tourists who travel to India.
India has, so far, failed to grab a slice of China’s thriving tourism industry. Every year, Chinese tourists spend in excess of $40 billion overseas.Of the estimated 47 million Chinese who travel abroad every year, around 102,000 — or only 0.21 per cent — travelled to India, according to 2009 statistics. Vietnam, South Korea and Japan each attracted more than 10 times that number.
Through the Buddhist circuit train, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and India Tourism are attempting to attract two fast-growing population segments in China — followers of Buddhism, who, according to estimates, number between 100 and 200 million, and a fast expanding outbound tourism market.
The train takes travellers, over the course of a week, to several cities associated with the Buddha’s life. Starting in New Delhi, the ‘Mahaparinirvan Express’ stops at places such as Bodhgaya, Varanasi, Nalanda, Kushinagar and eventually, Lumbini in Nepal, the Buddha’s birthplace.Source: thehindu.com
