The Evolution of Religious Tourism in India - India Report

29.08.2024 - 06:38 / skift.com / Bulbul Dhawan

Did you know: In 2022, the number of domestic tourists who visited Indian pilgrimage sites was more than India’s population – 1.43 billion. 

There has been a surge in spiritual tourism post-pandemic, a new report by consulting firm KPMG says. The Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu and Kashmir, for instance, is now visited by about 32,000 to 40,000 pilgrims a day, up from 10,000-15,000 daily visitors before Covid. A similar phenomenon has been observed at the Golden Temple in Amritsar and the Guruvayur temple in Kerala. 

Speaking with Skift earlier this year, Uttar Pradesh tourism deputy director said that the tourism in the state is witnessing an increase largely due to religious tourism and infrastructural developments. She said that Uttar Pradesh’s tourism industry transformed after the inauguration of the Kashi-Vishwanath corridor in Varanasi in December 2021.

“After that, in 2022 and 2023, a total of about 130 million tourists visited the pilgrim city. The success from this project was also implemented in other parts of the country, including Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh,” she said. 

In its report, KPMG shared that Varanasi received 71.6 million visitors in 2022, and about 122 million in 2023. 

Evolution of Religious Tourism: The report highlighted the factors that are enhancing the concept of religious tourism: 

Lakshadweep archipelago in India has been gaining popularity among Indian tourists, while visitors to Maldives have declined after diplomatic tensions flared between the two countries earlier this year. In the April to June quarter this year, the Agatti airport in Lakshadweep handled about 23,000 passengers, more than double from the same period last year. 

The surge in visitors to Lakshadweep came as flight services and seat availability increased due to more frequent operations by Alliance Air, and commencement of services by IndiGo and Fly91. Compared to last year, there was an 88% increase in the number of flights to Agatti, the only airport in Lakshadweep. 

On the other hand, there was a nearly 50% decline in the number of Indian tourists during the quarter from last year, while Chinese tourists surged. Consequently, China became the top source market for Maldives in the first half of 2024, taking over India, which fell to sixth place. 

International tourists in India in the first six months of 2024 stood at about 4.78 million, up 9% from last year. However, the figure was 10% less than pre-Covid levels of 5.3 million. The decline has come even as the international footfall at Indian airports has increased close to 10% in the April to June quarter this year, compared to 2019. 

Meanwhile, foreign exchange earnings have increased by 5.5% from 2019. This means that international spending has