Religious tourism garners major projects in UP

Lucknow: The sustained efforts of the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh over the past seven years are paying off and religious tourism now accounts for a major share in the tourism sector.

Over 46 per cent of the total 819 projects set for launch during the fourth groundbreaking ceremony (GBC-4.0) in the tourism sector are located in centres of religious tourism, namely Varanasi, Ayodhya, Mathura and Prayagraj, according to the official spokesman.

The tourism department’s target for the event was Rs 37,500 crore. Against this, 819 projects worth Rs 33,134.47 crore are set to take off, which is an achievement of 88 per cent against the goal. Of the total, projects worth Rs 15,434.18 crore are located in these four cities-- Varanasi, Ayodhya, Mathura and Prayagraj.

The projects include hotels, resorts, spas, retreats, theme parks and so on.

According to the spokesman, Varanasi leads the list with projects with 34 entries bringing in an investment of Rs 6,730 crore.