India Blooms News Service | @notintownlive | 21 Aug 2020, 11:42 am

Lumbini: Nepalese city of Lumbini, which is the birthplace of Gautama Buddha, is hardly seeing tourist flow this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The large section of the tourists which visit the city are from India.
"The number of Indian tourists (in Lumbini) stood at 93,852 last year while domestic tourists were 680,206. Around 86,531 tourists from other countries also had visited the site. Now it's entirely silent," Gyanin Rai, Member Secretary at Lumbini Development Trust told ANI.
Rai said the lack of tourist visits in the region has hit business.
"Tourists used to throng the area for family tours, annual closing celebration and many other occasions mainly between January to July every year. Businesses use to boom mostly at that time but now it is all silent. We all miss them. Our revenue also has slumped due to this COVID-19 crisis," Rai added.
(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)
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