Travelers choose spiritual travel this summer – Lifestyle News

Social media is awash with videos showing the crowds at Kedarnath, as well as the long list of offline registration centres for the Char Dham pilgrimage in Haridwar and Rishikesh, which have already seen over 1.4 million visitors, with an average weekly registration of over 25,000. Varanasi recorded its highest ever attendance of 9.56 million pilgrims in March this year. All major hospitality companies are scrambling to sign up religious destinations like Katra, Puri and Ayodhya. This surge is expected to generate revenues of Rs 59 billion by 2028 from religious tourism alone, and generate 140 million temporary and permanent jobs by 2030.

trip Businesses are seeing a similar trend, with searches and bookings for religious tourism increasing significantly.According to data from the Indian Statistical Bureau, residents of tier 2 and tier 3 cities are particularly embracing spiritual journeys, with searches for destinations located on or near religious sites growing by 97% over the past two years (2023 vs. 2021). According to MakeMyTrip’s travel trends report, searches for Ayodhya have increased by 585%, Ujjain by 359% and Badrinath by 343% in 2023 compared to 2022. Badrinath saw a surge of 343%, Amarnath by 329%, Kedarnath by 322%, Mathura by 223%, Dwarkadhish by 193%, Shirdi by 181%, Haridwar by 117% and Bodh Gaya by 114%.

Uttar Pradesh Tourism Director Prakar Mishra said Ayodhya, which now has 24 flights a day, was seeing heavy foot traffic in the state. “At Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, donations in March reached Rs 111.4 crore, breaking previous records and the highest in a single month,” Mishra added.

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Daniel D’Souza, president and country head, SOTC Travel, said demand for Ayodhya and holy site pilgrimage tours has increased five-fold compared to last year. “And it is the time of Lord Rama. We are witnessing strong growth in tier 2 and tier 3 regional cities in India and these high-growth markets are driving demand for our Ramayana Trail portfolio,” he added.

Thomas Cook (India) has seen growing interest from younger travellers, millennials and Gen Z, and has launched “Pilgrimage Plus Tours”, which combine guide-storytellers, sattvic food, as well as darshan, on-site experiences like culinary trails, and outdoor adventures like river rafting and bungee jumping.

Data from Temple Connect, a platform that bridges the gap between temples and devotees by providing up-to-date information on darshan, shows there is growing interest from millennials and Gen Z in information about temples, gods and goddesses. “The average per capita spend at pilgrimage sites is around Rs 2,500 and is likely to increase in future,” said Giresh Vasudev Kulkarni, founder, Temple Connect.

Even a place like Goa, known for its beaches, is encouraging spiritual rejuvenation. The state tourism department is promoting Hindu temples and Christian churches that are integral to the region’s cultural identity, said Sunil Antipaka, Goa tourism secretary and managing director of GTDC.

Santosh Sharma, Founder, BookMyJet and Co-Founder & CEO, Foresee Aviation “There are a lot of NRIs (non-Indian tourists) from the US and UK who come to Chardham on charter flights. There is demand from Varanasi, Ujjain and Hampi,” said the private charter flight company, which receives around five religious tourism bookings a month.

Religious tourism is expected to attract 1,439 million visitors in 2022, generating revenue of Rs 1,340 billion for tourist destinations in the year, more than double the 677 million visitors in 2021 and up from Rs 6,507 billion in 2021, according to data from the Ministry of Tourism.