Parliament Question: Promotion of Tourism at Buddhist Sites

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF TOURISM LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *313 ANSWERED ON 11.08.2025 PROMOTION OF TOURISM AT BUDDHIST SITES *313. SHRI JAGDAMBIKA PAL:

Will the Minister of TOURISM be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has taken any steps to promote domestic and international tourism in Buddhist cultural and historical sites like Piprahwa in Siddharthnagar district, if so, the details thereof;

(b) the details of the total number of domestic and international tourists visited Siddharthnagar district during the last five years and the current year;

(c) whether the Government has taken any steps to promote cross-border tourism between the Buddhist cultural and heritage sites like Lumbini in Nepal and Siddharthnagar in India;

(d) whether the Government has taken any steps to connect Buddhist cultural and heritage sites like Sarnath, Bodhgaya, Vaishali and Shravasti; and

(e) if so, the details thereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF TOURISM (SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT)

(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House. *******STATEMENT IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.*313 ANSWERED ON 11.08.2025 REGARDING PROMOTION OF TOURISM AT BUDDHIST SITES RAISED BY SHRI JAGDAMBIKA PAL

(a): The Ministry of Tourism regularly promotes diverse tourist destinations and experiences of India including Buddhist sites of Bodhgaya, Sarnath, Vaishali and Shravasti through various initiatives including promotional events, participation in travel exhibitions and fairs in domestic and international markets, familiarization tours, influencers programmes, assistance to State Governments/Union Territories for organizing fairs and festivals, website, amplification through social media handles etc.

(b): The details of tourist footfall in Siddharthnagar district during

the last five years are as follows:

Year DTVs FTVs Total 2024 100595 17546 118141 2023 392516 11797 404313 2022 222289 109 222398 2021 370975 90 371065 2020 505801 4924 510725 Total 15,92,176 34,466 16,26,642 *DTVs - Domestic Tourist Visits / FTVs – Foreign Tourist Visits

(c) to (e): The Ministry of Tourism regularly engages with neighbouring countries such as Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka underthe framework of international tourism cooperation, with a focus on promoting tourism including Buddhist tourism.

The Government has taken significant steps to improve connectivity across Buddhist cultural and heritage sites in the country including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The international airport at Kushinagar has enhanced direct air connectivity for international pilgrims. Lumbini in Nepal is connected to Siddharthnagar in India through NH-233. The Buddhist heritage and pilgrimage sites such as Bodh-Gaya, Vaishali, Rajgir, Nalanda etc are well-connected through a network of National Highways developed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) /Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).

The Ministry of Railways also operates theme based tourist circuit trains covering Bodhgaya, Rajgir, Nalanda, Sarnath, Kushinagar, Lumbini and Sharavasti.

Additionally, the Ministry of Tourism under its Schemes of Swadesh Darshan, Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD), Assistance to Central Agencies, Challenge Based Destination Development (CBDD) and Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI) has sanctioned several projects to develop tourism infrastructure and amenities, in the country including at Buddhist tourism sites. The details of the projects sanctioned under these schemes for promotion of tourism at Buddhist sites are at Annexure.

*****ANNEXURE STATEMENT IN REPLY TO PARTS (c) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.*313 ANSWERED ON 11.08.2025 REGARDING PROMOTION OF TOURISM AT BUDDHIST SITES RAISED BY SHRI JAGDAMBIKA PAL Details of the Projects sanctioned under the schemes of Swadesh Darshan, Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD), Assistance to Central Agencies, Challenge Based Destination Development (CBDD), and Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI) for promotion of tourism at Buddhist sites S. State/UT Name of the Name of the Amount No. Scheme / Project Sanctioned Sanction Year (₹ in Crore) 1 Andhra Swadesh Development of 35.24 Pradesh Darshan (SD) / Buddhist Circuit:

2017-18 Shalihundam- Bavikonda- Bojjanakonda - Amravati- Anupu 2 PRASHAD / Mahachaitya 0.60 2015-16 Stupa & ASI Museum (Under “Development of Amaravati Town, Guntur District as a Tourist Destination”) 3 PRASHAD / Dhyana Buddha 0.70 2015-16 Site Development (Under “Development of Amaravati Town, Guntur District as a Tourist Destination”) 4 Challenge Enriching 25.00 Based Buddhist HeritageDestination and Cultural Development / Experiences at 2024-25 Nagarjuna Sagar 5 Bihar Swadesh Development of 95.18 Darshan / Buddhist Circuit- 2016-17 Construction of Convention Centre at Bodhgaya 6 Swadesh Development of 165.44 Darshan 2.0 / Buddhist Circuit- 2024-25 Construction of Convention Centre at Bodhgaya 7 Chhattisgarh PRASHAD / Development of 5.55 2020-21 Prayagiri (Under “Development of Maa Bamleshwari Devi Temple, Rajnandgaon, Dongargarh, Chhattisgarh”) 8 Gujarat Swadesh Development of 26.68 Darshan / Junagadh- Gir 2017-18 Somnath- Bharuch-Kutch- Bhavnagar- Rajkot- Mehsana 9 Madhya Swadesh Development of 74.02 Pradesh Darshan / Sanchi-Satna- 2016-17 Rewa-Mandsaur- Dhar 10 Sikkim PRASHAD / Development of 33.32 2020-21 Pilgrimage Facilitation at Four Patron Saints at Yuksom, Sikkim 11 Uttar Swadesh Development of 87.89Pradesh Darshan / Srawasti, 2016-17 Kushinagar, & Kapilwastu 12 PRASHAD / Sound and Light 7.34 2015-16 Show, Dhamek Stupa (Under “Development of Varanasi-Phase-I”) 13 PRASHAD Buddha Theme 2.20 /2015-16 Park, Sarnath (Under “Development of Varanasi-Phase-I”) 14 Assistance to Illumination of 5.12 Central monuments in Agencies / Varanasi/Sarnath 2014-15 Dhamekh Stupa in Sarnath, Chaukhandi Stupa in Sarnath, Tomb of Lal khan

(Rajghat) in Sarnath and Man Mahal in Banaras) 15 Assistance to Illumination of 2.93 Central three monuments Agencies / in Varanasi, Uttar 2017-18 Pradesh 16 Special ‘Integrated 80.24 Assistance to Buddhist Tourism States for Development in Capital Shrawasti Investment/ 2024-25 17 Telangana Challenge Digital Experience 24.85 Based Centre at Destination Buddhavanam in Development / Nalgonda,’ 2024-25 *****