Pilgrimage tourism in a village of Nepal "A case study of Arjundhara Jaleswor Dham, Jhapa"

Abstract

Now tourism is becoming an industry in the world. It is helping to build the strong national economy of different countries by providing job opportunity and earning foreign currency. In the context of Nepal, it is also the major sector of national economy and it is potential land for tourism development. Particularly, natural beauty, geographical diversity, cultural and artistic heritage, the presence of Mt. Everest and several world renowned peaks, rich biological diversity, consisting rare flora and fauna species, innumerable rivers and lakes are the main attractions for tourists. Beside them different historical and religious place, the birth place of lord Buddha and the presence of world wide famous temple of Hindu deity, "Pashupatinath " provide the attractive destination for tourists in world tourism Map. Every year millions of tourists are visiting Nepal to fulfill the different purposes. Among them religious purpose is one of the important and having long history in tourism sector. Here is different pilgrimage sites located in different parts of the country. Among them Arjundhara is also one of the popular religious tourist spot of Jhapa district as well as Nepal. Now it is facing different types of problems and the tourist's arrival quantity is not satisfactory. No any research and empirical studies have been done about problems and prospects of tourism development in Arjundhara. That's why Arjundhara is selected as a study area. It is hoped that this study will be useful for different individuals and institutions to get detail information about Arjundhara. The main objectives of this study were to analyze the inflow of tourist arrival at Arjundhara. Similarly, identify the tourism potentiality of the Arjundhara and recommend the appropriate suggestions for its development. Mainly the study was based on primary data but some essential information's were taken from different secondary sources. Primary information's were taken through interview and structured questionnaire from local people, tourists, businessmen and other person who were familiar with Arjundhara. They were selected by random and purposive sampling method. Mainly temples, statue of Arjun and cows, pond, suryakunda, Pathsala are the main attractions of this place. Similarly, Balachaturdashi, Teej, Srawanin Purnima, Nag Panchami and Dashain are the main festivals of Arjundhara. At that time domestic and foreign tourists come from different places. Low level facilities are available for the tourists but these facilities are not sufficient for the tourists. Facility of transportation and hotel restaurant are the burning problems of Arjundhara. Similarly, religious faith, scenic attraction, pleasant climate are the main prospects for tourism development in Arjundhara. That's why the government and non government organizations should launch different programs to address the present problems in order to change the physical of the setting destination for religious tourists in and around the Arjundhara.