Journal of Marketing Strategy (JMS) Vol. 5 Issue 3, December 2017, ISSN: 2347-3770 | Impact Factor: 4.73 Journal Homepage: http://www.jmspublication.com, Email: publicationjms@gmail.com Double-Blind Peer Reviewed Refereed Open Access International Journal - Included in the International Serial Directories Indexed & Listed at: Ulrich's Periodicals Directory ©, U.S.A., Open J-Gage as well as in Cabell’s Directories of Publishing Opportunities, U.S.A Journal of Marketing Strategy (JMS) Email: publicationjms@gmail.com, http://www.jmspublication.com (An open access scholarly, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary and fully refereed journals.) 71 INDIAN BUDDHIST TOURISM: PROGRESS AND EMERGING ISSUES M. P. Sharma Asst. Professor, Amity School of Hospitality, Amity University, Noida, Sector 125, UP-201303 INDIA ABSTRACT The Buddhist tourism industry in India is continuously putting its effort to sustain the image of top Buddhist tourism destination in the world. The industries have to think about new strategies and policies to handle their customers and tourists to optimize their customer loyalty and revenues. A new impetus is given to Buddhist Tourism when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said; I would pƌefeƌ ĐalliŶg IŶdia as Buddhist IŶdia aŶd siŵultaŶeouslLJ also deĐlaƌed Bodh GaLJa as “piƌitual Capital of IŶdia. Since Bodh Gaya is the epicentre of Buddhist Tourism, it will help to increase number of tourist to Buddhist India. The Buddhist Circuit is a globally important route for over 450 million Buddhists across the world, especially in East and South East Asian regions, making it an important platform for strengthening bilateral and cultural ties. However, despite its cultural and religious significance, Tourism infrastructure along the Buddhist Circuit remains relatively underdeveloped and large volumes of tourists have failed to translate into higher incomes for the local communities. The cornerstone of our National and State policy framework should therefore be to nurture a business environment conducive for the private sector, encourage and invest in local enterprises and domestic industry as well as foreign investment to build quality infrastructure, hotels, and services at these sites. Buddhist tourism today is highlighted for its immense business opportunities. With its lucrative linkages with transport, hotel industry etc., the poteŶtial aŶd peƌfoƌŵaŶĐe of IŶdias Buddhist tourism industry needs to be gauged in terms of its socio-economic magnitudes. Creating a profile of a customer in a systematic manner, delivering consistent development process across all media and integrating multi-channel customer interactions will help in building positive image of Indian Buddhist tourism. This paper is an attempt to envisage the various factors crucial to business development strategy and to find out the issues pertaining to the travelers, tourists and customers in the Buddhist tourism sector and the attempts being made by various