BUDDHIST MONASTIC TREK CIRCUIT AMIDST OF A GEOTOURISM LANDSCAPE: A STUDY IN THE VICINITY OF KHANGCHENDZONGA NATIONAL PARK IN INDIA

Abstract

Tourism has been introduced in Khangchendzonga National Park and its surroundings based on its outstanding natural and cultural resources. It is a sacred Buddhist landscape endowed with geotourism potentials. This paper aims to evaluate the scope of symbiosis between Buddhist tourism and geotourism applying GIS and SWOT with emphasis on evaluation of the values of existing tangible and intangible heritages. Results address the research gap on sustainable utilization of a geotourism landscape which is more familiar as a landscape of Buddhist heritage in tourism industry for incredible metaphors that glorified it as sacred.

Keywords

• buddhist heritage
• tangible
• intangible
• sacred
• sustainable