Title - Expos to woo Buddhist tourists

The State Government has initiated measures to tap the tourism potential of famous Buddhist sites here by requesting the Indian Railways to extend the Mahaparinirvan Express, a special Buddhist train, to Odisha.The Tourism and Culture Department has submitted a proposal to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a subsidiary of the Indian Railways, to explore feasibility of extending the train service to the Buddhist sites in the State.At present, the Mahaparinirvan Express covers Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, connecting famous Buddhist sites at Bodhgaya, Nalanda, Rajgir, Sarnath, Gorakhpur, Khushinagar, Gonda, Sravasti and Agra.Tourism Department sources said the proposed extension of the special Buddhist train to the State will be taken up as a joint venture between Orissa Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) and IRCTC.The proposal is to request IRCTC to run the special train during January and February when the foreign tourist inflow, particularly from South East Asia, is maximum, the sources said.Meanwhile, OTDC has already launched a package bus tour to the Buddhist circuit.The Chief Secretary in a meeting on Tuesday advised the Culture and Tourism Department to make best possible combination of routes and promote it through proper marketing strategies.

Though the State has a lot of potential to attract foreign tourists to the Buddhist sites at Lalitgiri, Khandagiri, Udayagiri, Chadragiri and Ratnagiri, the current footfall is negligible compared to other states.

The meeting decided to organise roadshows and tourism Expos in countries like Thailand and Taiwan for attracting Buddhist tourists to Odisha. Such activities will also be taken up at different fora of tour operators, hotel associations and airline operators, Tourism Secretary Ashok Tripathy said.

Development Commissioner RN Senapati,  Finance Secretary JK Mohapatra and IRCTC MD Rakesh Tondon participated.