The consecration ceremony at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on 22 January is likely to attract 2-2.5 crore tourists to the holy city, taking its annual tourism potential to Rs 55,000 crore, say local tourism experts and transporters. Ram Avatar, a local taxi operator, said, “Not just have hotels in the town grown by five-fold over the past five years, the occupancy rate has also gone up.”
Local transporters are also experiencing a boon in business due to the spurt in footfall. “There is a 250% increase in vehicle bookings to Ayodhya in January and February,” said Avatar.
Avdhesh Kumar, a food snack owner near Lata Chowk in the holy city, is also excited about the rising footfall. “More visitors mean more business for us,” he said.
Tourism and Culture Minister Jaiveer Singh also recently claimed that Ayodhya could soon turn into the religious tourism capital of the world. An Uttar Pradesh government official said recently that the development of the temple will impact the economic development of at least half a dozen districts around Ayodhya. The tourism department is spending Rs 588 crore and other departments of the UP government are spending Rs 936 crore to improve the basic services for visitors to the holy city.
Tourists coming to areas like Ram Path, Lata Chowk or Ram Janmabhoomi Path will find a toilet, drinking water point and resting place at every 500 metres. As part of the cultural event around the consecration ceremony, around 8,000 registered artistes and performers of the state will perform daily between 14 and 24 January. As part of the cultural performances, a Shri Ram Charan Paduka Yatra will be organised in Chitrakoot on 15 January that will culminate in Ayodhya on 19 January.
Official sources said requests have been received from the governments of Nepal, Cambodia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand for land to build their national guest houses in the holy city. As per the state’s tourism data, only two lakh tourists visited Ayodhya in 2017, while the number jumped to 2.03 crore in 2022. The state’s tourist footfall in 2023 surpassed the 32-crore mark in September and out of these Ayodhya’s contribution was 2.03 crore.
As per tourism trade figures, the Indian market is likely to record a compound annual growth rate of 7-8 %. Spiritual tourism is estimated to grow 9-10% for the next five years. Soon after Covid period, spiritual tourism played a crucial role in the recovery of tourism and was valued at $56 billion in FY23. It valued around $44 billion in 2020.