Online travel aggregators have seen significant increase in travel demand for spiritual destinations which helped in the strong recovery of the travel sector in the post pandemic period. Platforms like Cleartrip registered a double-digit increase in searches on a month-on-month basis for destinations such as Varanasi, Tirupati, Bhubaneswar, Bodh Gaya, Amritsar and Ajmer in the first half of 2024.
The growing spiritual tourism in India will get further boost as the government will support the development of Vishnupad Temple corridor and Mahabodhi Temple corridor.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget 2024 speech also announced that a comprehensive development initiative for Rajgir will be undertaken. In addition, the government will support the development of Nalanda as a tourist centre besides reviving Nalanda university.
This year’s Union Budget has opened new doors to development, specifically for domestic and inbound tourism, said Madhavan Menon, Executive Chairman, Thomas Cook (India) Limited (Thomas Cook, SOTC, Sterling Holidays and TCI).
The continued investment in developing corridors will create a multiplier effect, stimulating the local economy and generating job opportunities, said Anuj Rathi, Chief Business and Growth Officer, Cleartrip. "This initiative will add to the momentum that the industry gained from the Ayodhya boom earlier this year," he added.
In the first half of 2024, Cleartrip registered a double-digit increase in searches on a month-on-month basis for destinations such as Varanasi, Tirupati, Bhubaneswar, Bodh Gaya, Amritsar and Ajmer, Rathi noted.
"We saw a 40-50 percent increase in demand for spiritual tourism last year, for destinations like Varanasi, Ayodhya and Tirupati. The government’s PRASAD Scheme has led to a remarkable transformation in Varanasi's tourism sector, attracting an unprecedented 100 million visitors to Kashi Vishwanath Dham after the corridor project completion. We expect a similar boost in tourism to Bihar and Odisha with spiritual tourism corridors coming up for Vishnupad Temple and Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya, along with comprehensive initiatives for Rajgir, Nalanda, and Odisha," said Aloke Bajpai, Chairman, Managing Director & Group CEO, ixigo.
With special focus on Bihar, Nalanda, and Odisha, the government plans to develop the iconic religious sites to support its infrastructure and transform them into world class pilgrim and tourist destinations, said Rikant Pittie, Co-Founder EaseMyTrip.
"We welcome the initiatives to develop iconic spiritual and cultural sites into world class tourist hotspots," said Rajesh Magow, Co-founder & Group CEO, MakeMyTrip.
Sitharaman also announced that Odisha's scenic beauty, temple, monuments, craftsmanship, wildlife sanctuary, and pristine beaches make it an ultimate tourism destination. The government will provide assistance for the development of Odisha as well.
"Odisha also has a great potential as a destination for religious and beach tourism. The new initiatives to improve infrastructure and connectivity in these offbeat destinations will attract both domestic and international tourists, offering a much-needed boost to the local economy," said Sandeep Arora, Director of Brightsun Travel, India.
While online travel aggregators cheered the announcements made in Budget 2024 on tourism, players in the hospitality space were disappointed.
"There is nothing spectacular in the budget to bring structural changes to address the fundamental challenges it faces in a competitive world order and to accelerate the growth of the (hospitality) sector to be a $3 trillion economy by 2047," said Pradeep Shetty, President of FHRAI (Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India).
Some key demands of tourism & hospitality to revitalize the sector such as GST rationalization, granting of infrastructure status and bringing ease of doing business and policy reforms have not been considered in the budget once again, given the well accepted multiplier effect of tourism on employment and economy, Shetty added.
"The hospitality sector is disappointed but not dejected as the overall focus on infrastructure development, employment generation and skill development and development of religious tourism centres are the silver linings which will help the sector to tide over some of the critical challenges that it faces today," he said.
Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO (Indian Association of Tour Operators) said that they are disappointed with the budget announcement.
"We had given multiple recommendations with regards to boosting inbound tourism, but they seem to have been totally ignored or not taken up. It hurts more as the government's stated objective is to give a boost to employment generation, and there is no industry that comes closer to it in terms of potential employment generation," he said.
Source: moneycontrol.com
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