An Indian tourism road show in Ho Chi Minh City invited Vietnamese to “walk in the footsteps” of the Buddha but in the comfort of trains.Viet Nam News said Incredible India brought together key players in India’s hospitality industry, senior tourism officials, and tour operators who saw great potential in the Vietnamese market.Anand Kumar, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, was quoted saying that Vietnam was an emerging market for India.Indian Buddhist scholar Shantum Seth was quoted saying that the arrival of Buddhist pilgrims from Vietnam and other countries could help revive the religion in India.The value of a pilgrimage to India was that pilgrims could get an insight into Buddhism in the context in which the faith was born and developed, he was quoted saying.”It’s like you walk with the Buddha.””When pilgrims visit Lumbini (where the Buddha was born), the chances are that they can see old, sick and dead men and monks just exactly like the Buddha did before he decided to leave in search of enlightenment.In the ancient town of Varanasi, pilgrims could still witness rituals on the Ganges River which made the Buddha look for other ways to relieve human grief, he was quoted saying.With one of the most extensive railways in the world that cover more than 64,000km and operate more than 15,000 trains a day, India has great potential for developing train tours, according to Rakesh Tandon, Managing Director of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation.The company has launched several luxury theme trains for tourists that criss-cross the country – like the Palace on Wheels, Royal Rajasthan, Maharaja Express, Golden Chariot, Deccan Odyssey, Southern Splendour and Royal Golden Triangle.The Mahaparinirvan Express, a Buddhist circuit train, has a package for Buddhists that includes prime Buddhist spots like Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, Varanasi, Nalanda and Kushinagar.”The trains have attracted tourists from more than 30 countries in the last four years,” he said, noting that many of them were from non-Buddhist countries like the US, Germany, Russia, Indonesia, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Australia.
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