HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh state tourism department has earmarked Rs 25.99 crore for the promotion of Buddhist tourism in the state by creating special Buddhist circuits and preservation of monuments.
A unique Buddhist theme park, Buddhavanam, would also be set up at Nagarjunakonda at a cost of Rs 16.36 crore.
Facilities including entrance arch, information centres, ticketing counter, museum, tourist amenities, open air theatres, stupas, interpretation centres, landscaping, amphi theatres, bronze statues, restaurant and signages will also be developed.
The tourism department has identified the enormous potential of Buddhist heritage and taken initiatives to develop Buddhist sites and monuments as tourist attractions.
The dept would develop 3 Buddhist circuits at Visakhapatnam, Amaravathi and Nagarjunakonda, with an estimated investment of Rs 571.93 lakh, Rs 400 lakh and Rs 175 lakh respectively.
It has proposed to develop Buddhist sites, monuments and Buddhist clusters at Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.
The department is in the process of considering areas with strong Buddhist heritage as notified tourism areas.
It has identified Buddhist tourism as an important segment to attract both domestic and foreign tourists from East and Southeast Asian regions, mainly from Japan, China, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Singapore.
The Buddhist sites and monuments located at Nagarjunakonda, Amaravati, Chandavaram, Guntupalli, Sankaram, Salihundam, Ramathirtham, Dantapuram, Jaggayyapeta, Vaddamanu, Bhattiprolu, Bavikonda, Thotlakonda, Gantasala and Phanigiri are preserved and they are attracting huge number of tourists.
The tourism department is celebrating Buddha Jayanthi on Sunday.
Display of holy relics of Buddha at Buddhist gallery, in the state museum at 10.30 am followed by chanting of Buddhist hymns by monks.
Prayers by monks at Buddha statue in Hussainsagar at 5.30 pm were some of the events planned for the day.
