Lumbini’s Tourism Growing

BMD

Finally, the Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) has come into operation, bringing lots of cheers to tourism stakeholders, migrant workers and those living in Lumbini and its neighbouring areas. Located in Bhairahawa, 18-km away from Lumbini, the airport is the country’s second international airport after the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).

Before the opening of this new airport, TIA had served as the nation’s sole international airport for more than 70 years.  With the operation of GBIA, Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, is expected to emerge as an important business and tourism hub. This modern facility has become the gateway to the pilgrimage site of Lumbini. 

Kuwaiti carrier — Jazeera Airways — has begun operating its scheduled flights between Kuwait and Lumbini since this year’s Buddha Jayanti (May 16) when GBIA was inaugurated. The airline is currently flying three times a week on this route. Several other foreign airlines have shown their interest in flying to Lumbini on a regular basis.

Many Nepali migrant workers working in the Gulf countries stand to benefit much from this air service. Earlier, they were forced to visit Kathmandu to catch their flight to the Gulf region. The Middle East is a major foreign job destination for Nepali migrant workers. 

With the operation of this new airport, Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has launched its daily flights between Kathmandu and Lumbini, using its narrow-body aircraft.  When the demand for air service rises, Nepal’s domestic airlines such as Buddha Air and Yeti Airlines will also increase their flights to this vital pilgrimage site.

Before COVID-19, Lumbini used to host a lot of internal as well as foreign tourists. In 2019, the pilgrimage site welcomed a total of 1.5 million domestic and international travellers. But the pandemic badly affected the entire economic sector, including tourism, in 2020 and 2021. The number of tourists came down considerably in the past two years.

Lumbini and its nearby areas have begun seeing more hotels and resorts since 2009 when Nepal government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) agreed to move the airport project ahead. Such hospitality services and accommodation facilities can serve hundreds of thousands of tourists each month.

Once Lumbini gets all necessary tourism infrastructures, it will receive many more travellers from around the world. In the past too, the UNESCO’s World Heritage Site used to host many foreign tourists, especially Buddhists from China, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and South Korea. Since most of visitors entered Lumbini via India, they would return on the same day. So, the country was unsuccessful in capitalising on Lumbini.

As a pilgrimage site, Lumbini ranks with Mecca, Jerusalem, the Vatican City, Varanasi and Amritsar. But this place has yet to get the much-needed facelift. Decades have passed since Japanese Professor Kenzo Tange prepared Lumbini’s master plan. But the master plan has not been fully implemented as of now. 

Opening the newly-constructed airport, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had said that the airport would facilitate connectivity, cultural linkages and boost cultural tourism. Immediately after inaugurating the airport, Deuba, who met his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Lumbini, sought the southern neighbour’s support for allowing Nepal to use the additional air entry routes from Mahendranagar, Nepalgunj and Janakpur.