Bihar in big push to religious tourism in post-Covid revival efforts

Bihar’s tourism industry has seen a major boost of late thanks to its world-famous religious sites, and as the government gives tourism a big push

By Dheeraj Sinha from Patna

The Bihar government, in the post-Covid revival steps, has given a fresh impetus to its efforts to attract tourists to the state’s plethora of religious sites including the Mahabodhi Temple, which is considered to be the most revered shrine for Buddhists.

Bihar Tourism Minister Narayan Prasad has said that religious tourism has a great potential and it would be fully exploited. “A 101-metre statue of Goddess Ganga would come up in the riverine areas of Sabalpur, falling between Patna and Sonepur. The construction work on it would start from September-October this year,” he announced.

Prasad said that besides the Mahabodhi Temple, Maa Mundeshwari Temple in Kaimur district is also attracting a large number of tourists.

“Tourist footfall has increased in the temple after the inauguration of Kashi-Vishwanath corridor in Varanasi by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he remarked.

The minister said that Buddhist Circuit, Sufi Circuit, Mahavir Circuit, Ramayana Circuit, Guru (Sikh) Circuit and Shiv-Parvati Circuit were being given full attention especially for attracting religious tourists.

A plethora of schemes

“Presently, the tourism department is working on 98 various schemes for developing the tourism industry in the state. Engineers are making estimates for them,” the minister noted, while adding said that the state government was making all possible efforts to attract domestic and foreign tourists in larger numbers as the COVID-19 situation had started easing.”

The Mahabodhi Temple is also attracting people from across the world, particularly from South East Asian countries. The government, said the minister, has also given a push to international tourist footfall in the state. “With the COVID-19 pandemic not as serious now, the numbers of both domestic and foreign tourists will be picking up in coming years.”

With emphasis on religious tourism, the tourist footfall continues to increase in Bihar despite the enforcement of complete Prohibition from April 5, 2016.

Pandemic factor

The COVID-19 pandemic, it must be noted, had adversely impacted tourism in Bihar, severely curtailing the flow of tourists to the state.

In 2015, a year before Prohibition was enforced in Bihar, the number of tourists who visited the state was pegged at 2.89 crore, which included 9.23 lakh foreigners. In 2019, Bihar recorded as many as 3.51 crore tourists. This included 10.93 lakh foreign tourists

BIHAR TOURISM FACT SHEET:

Year       Total Tourists    Foreign Tourists

2016       29526658             1010531

2017       33496768             1082705

2018       34709584             1087971

2019       35083179             1093141

2020       5952604                308080

2021       2502239                1046

2022 (From Jan to June)
                2778036                7590

However, there are also some challenges before the state tourism department, which include an inadequate number of luxury hotels at the tourist places, fewer express highways, lack of enough multilingual guides particularly those knowing Chinese, Japanese and Korean for the benefit of tourists coming from the South East Asian countries in particular.

Inadequate global air connectivity is also considered a big challenge for Bihar tourism.

With an objective to attracting tourists from foreign countries as well as from outside the state, posters and banners would be put up at airports and metro stations across the country.

To give a boost to tourism in the state, a Glass Sky-walk Bridge has been constructed in Rajgir in Nalanda district, the home district of chief minister Nitish Kumar. The total length of this sky-walk is 85 feet while the width is nearly 6 feet. Its height is about 250 feet from the valley and a total of 40 visitors can walk on it in one go, though only 10 to 12 people will be able to go to the D sector i.e. the last end. Three 15 mm glass mirrors of 45 mm thickness have been installed on this bridge. The walk on the bridge is proving a thrilling experience for tourists as it is completely transparent.

Similarly, a zoo safari which has been opened in Rajgir, has become a big hit with tourists within a short span of time.

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