Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Kushinagar International Airport on October 20 in the presence of over 100 dignitaries. The Centre said that the airport is expected to increase tourist inflow by 20 percent as per the Uttar Pradesh government’s estimates.
PM Modi is also set to deliver an address at the Buddhist site of Mahaparinirvana Stupa the same day.
The Centre said that the development of the airport at Kushinagar will help in establishing the place as one of the four principal places of Buddhist Pilgrimage.
Kushinagar is an International Buddhist Pilgrimage Centre, where Lord Gautam Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana. It is also the centre point of the Buddhist circuit, which consists of pilgrimage sites at Lumbini, Sarnath and Gaya.
A look at how Kushinagar airport will help boost tourism in UP:
- The airport will get operational this week to ease cumbersome travel of earlier times and facilitate the air travel requirements of International Buddhist pilgrims in India, according to a statement released by the Centre.
- The Centre said in its statement that, considering the demand of the domestic & international visitors and pilgrimage, the Airports Authority of India has developed the Kushinagar airport with new terminal building spread across 3600sqm, at an estimated cost of Rs 260 crore in association with the UP government.
- The new terminal is equipped to handle 300 passengers during peak hours.
- The airport is expected to help in attracting more followers of Buddhism from home and abroad to Kushinagar and will enhance the development of Buddhist theme based circuit.
- According to the Centre, direct air connectivity with South Asian countries will make it easier for tourists arriving from Sri Lanka, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore etc to reach Kushinagar easier.
- The airport is also expected to increase tourism economy involving several industries such as hospitality, feeder transport services, local businesses, etc.
- It will help to impart Kushinagar the pre-eminence it deserves as part of Buddhist Circuit, the statement said.
- The airport is said to serve a population of more than two crore, since the airport has a hinterland of around 10 to 15 districts and will be a great support for large migrant population of eastern UP and western/northern part of Bihar.
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