Varanasi pips Goa and Agra as the country’s top tourist destination

According to experts, the state government’s pro-tourism policies have resulted in an unprecedented surge in spiritual tourism in the country. In less than a decade, tourists have opted for religious tours ditching recreational travels. Destinations like Varanasi, Mathura, and Ayodhya receive more tourists than destinations like Goa

Nobody could have imagined even in their wildest dreams that Varanasi (Banaras/Kashi) would outdo Goa, Agra and Shimla in attracting tourists from across the globe.

Uttar Pradesh tourism is in for a major jump this year, especially after the opening of the grandiose Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on January 22.

The temple town is currently being decked up for the ‘pran pratishtha’ or consecration ceremony of the Ram Lalla idol.

It may be recalled that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said a couple of months back that his state was at number one in terms of tourist arrivals, pipping even the popular Goa. That statement was based on hard facts. When it comes to celebrating the dawn of the New Year, different people have different choices for the destination they want to visit and celebrate. Many people prefer hill stations while some choose beaches. Many prefer to visit religious cities to start the year with divine blessings. The rise in hotel bookings in Varanasi is proof of that.

In a bid to develop Uttar Pradesh as a “religious tourism hub”, the Yogi Adityanath-led government is working on a plan to speed up the formation of more pilgrimage development councils in places that are home to prominent temples and other centres of Hindu pilgrimage.

The UP government has already formed seven pilgrimage development councils and more are in the pipeline soon. Councils have been formed for Braj Teerth in Mathura, Shukarteerth in Muzaffarnagar, Chitrakoot Dham in Chitrakoot, Vindhyachal Dham in Mirzapur, Devipatan Dham in the Terai belt, Naimisharanya in Sitapur and Ayodhya.

Headed by the Chief Minister, the councils, comprising CEOs and nominated members have the powers to prepare and execute the master plan for integrated development and beautification of the area surrounding the pilgrimage site besides promoting the place by organising cultural events, festivals and fairs.

According to Oyo founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal, Varanasi has topped Goa in terms of hotel booking. "Bookings from Goa are rising by the hour. But Varanasi is overtaking Goa on that front.”

Kashi, already a popular tourist destination, had witnessed two big events in the recent past - first being when Narendra Modi inaugurated the redeveloped temple complex and the second being the Kashi Tamil Sangam. Both played a key role in showcasing Varanasi’s tourism potential. In fact, last year Kashi was most popular destination in UP. The state’s tourism sector is flourishing and it attracted than 32 crore tourists in the first nine months of 2023, including 9,54,866 foreigners.

This was a few lakhs more than the total footfalls in the 2022 calendar year (31.85 crore).

An official spokesperson informed that the total tourist footfall in 2023 was at least 25% more than the numbers recorded in the previous year (2022).

These numbers include a significant size of foreigners who visited India to explore the state.

Besides rising to the top in several central and state welfare schemes, it also made significant strides in the tourism industry as well.

Modi's Lok Sabha constituency, Varanasi attracted the highest number of tourists last year. Meanwhile, popular cities like Prayagraj and Ayodhya also saw the arrival of very large number of visitors.

Prayagraj stood second in the list of popular tourist destinations in Uttar Pradesh with a footfall of 4,49,95,996 visitors.

Third on the list was Ayodhya, which welcomed 2,03,64,347 tourists (including 1,634 from abroad) from January to September.

The highest number of tourist footfall in Uttar Pradesh was recorded between January and July, ranging between 5.56 and 5.80 crore, ANI reported.

According to experts, the state government’s pro-tourism policies have resulted in an unprecedented surge in spiritual tourism in the country. In less than a decade, tourists have opted for religious tours ditching recreational travels. Destinations like Varanasi, Mathura, and Ayodhya receive more tourists than destinations like Goa.

This change can be attributed to multiple factors. First and foremost is the infrastructural development of religious sites. Many hospitality players have grabbed the opportunity to create sound infrastructure in the vicinity of spiritual sites. Modi has been emphasising the need to come up with out-of-the-box plans to take tourism to new heights.

Another notable change is that young travellers are preferring spiritual sites over recreational destinations, in stark contrast to the days when spiritual tourism was mostly dominated by retired citizens.

(The author is Delhi-based senior journalist and writer. He is author of Gandhi's Delhi which has brought to the forth many hidden facts about Mahatma Gandhi)