Nepal to mark 2012 as "Visit Lumbini year"

Nepali government has decided to name 2012 as the "Visit Lumbini Year" consecutively after the Nepal Tourism Year 2011. Lumbini, some 300 km far southwest of the capital Kathmandu is the birth place of Shakyamuni Gautam Buddha. Lumbini meaning lovely is also an United Nations Educational, Scientific,and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site specifically nominated for the international World Heritage program. With the aim of promotion and exposure of the Lumbini as the major touristic destination, the government decided to dedicate the year 2012 for the birth place of Shakyamuni Gautam Buddha. According to the legend, Queen Mayadevi gave birth to Siddhartha Gautama, who as the Buddha Gautama founded the Buddhist tradition and he lived there centuries before. A press conference was organized by the Ministry of Culture on Monday to disseminate the information regarding the Visit Lumbini 2012. A national secretariat has been formed under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Babu Ram Bhattarai. Speaking at the press meeting, Minister for Culture Gopal Kirati said that the government launched the campaign with the view of exposing Lumbini to the international community and inviting international as well as national tourist. "The government has planned to bring some 1o Lakh tourist to Lumbini in the year 2012", Minister Kirati said. He added that Lumbini is the major hub for Buddhist tourist in and around the neighboring nations and also around the world. Talking to Xinhua on Monday, Rajendra Thapa Magar , Member Secretary of the national Secretariat formed for the Visit Lumibini 2012 said that business community around Lumbini are excited with the news. He informed that recent data showed that approximately 600,000 tourist both national and international visited Lumbini in the year 2010. "For the national tourist we have developed a slogan--Go to Lumbini once", he said He added that the major tourist targeted for the Lumbini are Chinese, Sri lankan, Thai, and S.Koreans. He informed that infrastructural development of the area of Lumbini is must for the upcoming big tourism event. Nepali government is inviting high profile international personnel such as Hollywood Superstar and Chinese Super Star, leaders from Srilanka and also Bollywood Superstars. They are appointed as the goodwill ambassadors for the Visit Lumbini 2012.