Akshay Kumar – Mumbai
Bihar Tourism is all set to celebrate the 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh on January 5, 2017. Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Guru of the Sikhs, was born in Patna on December 22, 1666. He was the pioneer in formalisation and unification of the followers of Guru Nanak. Bihar Tourism plans to gain impetus from this event and increase tourist inflow to the state and develop the Sikh tourism circuit.
Speaking exclusively to Express TravelWorld, Harjot Kaur Bamhrah, secretary, Department of Tourism, Bihar said, “Bihar Tourism has been very active in the last few years. We will be celebrating the 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh in 2017. This event alone will attract around one crore tourists to the state. Bihar is one of the most important states for religious tourism, we are well known for our Buddhist circuit. Expanding on our forte, we will now focus on other religious circuits like Sikh circuit, Jain circuit and the Hindu Shiva circuit.”
At the birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh there is a Gurdwara in Patna famously known as Takht Sri Patna Sahib. This Gurudwara is as one of the Panch Takhts. There are other Gurdwaras which commemorate some events of Guru Gobind’s life. These Gurdwaras are not only sacred pilgrimages for the Sikhs but are important to be visited by any traveller.
Bamhrah added, “2017 will be a great year for tourism in Bihar. We will also be organising the centenary celebration of the Champaran Satyagraha, which will be initiated by the Bihar Tourism Board. As Champaran Satyagraha is a well known event in the Indian history, we expect a large tourist inflow for this event.”
Presently, Bihar ranks seventh in the country for foreign tourist inflow. On an average, the state receives around 2.5 to three crore tourists each year, out of which majority are foreign tourists. The main source markets are South East Asia, South Korea, China, Japan, Sri Lanka and lately Vietnam.