Religious Tourism and Sustainable Development: Perspectives …
275
3 Religious Tourism in India: Significance
and Sustainability Concerns
India is a secular, multi-faith nation with an ancient civilisation and heritage. Almost
all religions have centres and concepts of pilgrimage or special congregations on
special occasions. The visitors to such places have a greater tendency to return to
the destinations within a shorter time frame, and hence have repeat value (DuránSánchez et al. 2018). For example, different religious communities in India have their
own religious sites where they visit regularly (Hindus—Char Dham or four adobes at
Badrinath in Uttarakhand, Dwarka in Gujarat, Puri in Odisha, Rameswaram in Tamil
Nadu; Sikhs—Golden Temple in Amritsar (Punjab), Gurudwara Patna Sahib (Bihar),
Gurudwara Hemkunt Sahib (Uttarakhand); Muslims—shrines of Moinuddin Chisti
(Rajasthan), Nizamuddin Auliya (New Delhi), Haji Ali (Mumbai); Christians—Se
Cathedral and Basilica of Bom Jesus (Goa), St Paul Cathedral (Kolkata)).
Religious tourism has led to immense employment and revenue generation for
India. Many central schemes and projects such as Namami Gange,
1 Swachh Bharat
Abhiyan
2 and Incredible India
3 have a direct and/or indirect impact on the tourism
sector. Each state has launched their own tourism promotion campaign showcasing
numerous scenic and historical attractions and experiences, including religious and
spiritual sites. Religious tourism in a broad sense refers to travel where visitors go
to places of worship, religious festivals or congregations to fulfil their religious and
recreational needs, and it remains the most popular kind of travel in India. It is popular
in all strata of society, not just the higher income groups, and even economically
weaker sections endeavour to visit sites of religious significance (Kapur 2018). More
than half the tourists in India are pilgrims, and tourism contributes significantly to
the gross domestic product (Gupta 1999).
Like any other tourist place, a religious site may have attributes that satisfy the
needs of all types of visitors. The religious motivation may be totally or partly the
reason for the visit. In recent years, there has been an increase in visitors who are
interested in the ‘historical, heritage or architectural, cultural, or artistic value’ of religious sites (Durán-Sánchez et al. 2018). In addition to visiting sacred sites, visitors
prefer to get away on holidays (Shinde 2007) and visit other near-by destinations and
engage in tourist activities such as sightseeing, shopping and excursions. Even visitors who go purely for leisure purpose tend to visit the places of religious significance
at the destination (Shinde 2018).
The improvements in infrastructure and access and availability of transport have
further led to a rise in visitors to pilgrimage sites, and the influx of visitors is not
restricted to peak seasons or special occasions. These visits include travel, sightseeing and purchase of memorabilia among many others. Hence, religious tourism
not only has economic benefits for the site visited but it also involves benefits to the
1 https://nmcg.nic.in/NamamiGanga.aspx.
2 https://swachhbharatmission.gov.in/sbmcms/index.htm.
3 https://www.incredibleindia.org/content/incredible-india-v2/en.html.
275
3 Religious Tourism in India: Significance
and Sustainability Concerns
India is a secular, multi-faith nation with an ancient civilisation and heritage. Almost
all religions have centres and concepts of pilgrimage or special congregations on
special occasions. The visitors to such places have a greater tendency to return to
the destinations within a shorter time frame, and hence have repeat value (DuránSánchez et al. 2018). For example, different religious communities in India have their
own religious sites where they visit regularly (Hindus—Char Dham or four adobes at
Badrinath in Uttarakhand, Dwarka in Gujarat, Puri in Odisha, Rameswaram in Tamil
Nadu; Sikhs—Golden Temple in Amritsar (Punjab), Gurudwara Patna Sahib (Bihar),
Gurudwara Hemkunt Sahib (Uttarakhand); Muslims—shrines of Moinuddin Chisti
(Rajasthan), Nizamuddin Auliya (New Delhi), Haji Ali (Mumbai); Christians—Se
Cathedral and Basilica of Bom Jesus (Goa), St Paul Cathedral (Kolkata)).
Religious tourism has led to immense employment and revenue generation for
India. Many central schemes and projects such as Namami Gange,
1 Swachh Bharat
Abhiyan
2 and Incredible India
3 have a direct and/or indirect impact on the tourism
sector. Each state has launched their own tourism promotion campaign showcasing
numerous scenic and historical attractions and experiences, including religious and
spiritual sites. Religious tourism in a broad sense refers to travel where visitors go
to places of worship, religious festivals or congregations to fulfil their religious and
recreational needs, and it remains the most popular kind of travel in India. It is popular
in all strata of society, not just the higher income groups, and even economically
weaker sections endeavour to visit sites of religious significance (Kapur 2018). More
than half the tourists in India are pilgrims, and tourism contributes significantly to
the gross domestic product (Gupta 1999).
Like any other tourist place, a religious site may have attributes that satisfy the
needs of all types of visitors. The religious motivation may be totally or partly the
reason for the visit. In recent years, there has been an increase in visitors who are
interested in the ‘historical, heritage or architectural, cultural, or artistic value’ of religious sites (Durán-Sánchez et al. 2018). In addition to visiting sacred sites, visitors
prefer to get away on holidays (Shinde 2007) and visit other near-by destinations and
engage in tourist activities such as sightseeing, shopping and excursions. Even visitors who go purely for leisure purpose tend to visit the places of religious significance
at the destination (Shinde 2018).
The improvements in infrastructure and access and availability of transport have
further led to a rise in visitors to pilgrimage sites, and the influx of visitors is not
restricted to peak seasons or special occasions. These visits include travel, sightseeing and purchase of memorabilia among many others. Hence, religious tourism
not only has economic benefits for the site visited but it also involves benefits to the
1 https://nmcg.nic.in/NamamiGanga.aspx.
2 https://swachhbharatmission.gov.in/sbmcms/index.htm.
3 https://www.incredibleindia.org/content/incredible-india-v2/en.html.