The Tourists

Tourists are the key actors in the tourism activity who travel and visit the destination in order to

satisfy their purposes on the behalf of the people living around the area. Tourists are the key
actors in the sense that they move and travel from their original location while the society and
destination remain where they are. Obviously the tourists are dynamic actors whereas society and
destinations are static within the domain of the tourism activity in the place.
Purpose of visit or the motivation for travel is the main driving force that makes tourists move
away from their home to a destination where they can get what they want. The sixty percent of
the tourist respondents were in fact interested in Buddha and Buddhism that’s why they moved to
get their feet over the land where the Buddha was born i.e. pilgrims. According to the Kathmandu
Post Daily (Jan 9, 05), out of the tourist of 66 countries visiting Lumbini, Srilanka (12217;
32.24%) and Thailand (7735; 20.41%) have been at the top two countries; both representing
Buddhism as a religion of the majority. Obviously, the nature of destination is an attestation for
this fact.
When tourists reach the very destination, some return back to their base camp in the evening
whereas some extend their stay at the destination. Such duration of stay depends upon two things;
first the specific objective (such as meditation, research, official works) of the visitor and second
the facilities of accommodation available in the area. 10 respondents were night staying visitors
out of 25. Their stay duration ranges from 1-3 nights to 15-30 nights. In this category the short
stayers upto 3 days were researchers and officials while others were meditators, devotees
including officials as well.
Number of tourist’s arrivals in Lumbini too has leaped forward. Even though some years show a
decline, overall trend is upward. Lumbini was visited only by 1023 tourists during 1964 (Okada,
1969) has been visited by 16780 tourists during 2000 (Acharya, 2001). Lumbini has happened to
be a purpose meant for visitors’ prior from the time when the Lumbini fall out to be the birthplace
of the Gautam Buddha. Owing to the being there of the blessed Lumbini garden, the number of
visitors is increasing each year i.e. 35.7 % up in 2004 (28053) as compared with 2003 (37892)