Hotel chains tapping religious tourism market

State Tourism Boards too developing religious circuits to facilitate pilgrims visiting prominent shrines

Travel News
Travel News

The hotel industry is gearing up to tap the booming pilgrimage tourism sector of India. With travellers ranging from celebrities to businessmen and young professionals, the demand for branded hotels at religious places has gone up.

For instance, Starwood is setting up a 180-room property, under the Sheraton brand, in Amritsar. It’s likely to be operational in the next two years. “It is a highly under-supplied market and hence a huge growth opportunity for some of Starwood brands like Sheraton, Four Points, Aloft Hotels. We are on a look out for opportunities in various places and talking to the local developers,” said Dilip Puri, managing director, Starwood Hotels and Resorts India.

Besides Amritsar, where the hotel company wants to tap into the crowd coming to see Golden Temple, Starwood is also keen on opening hotels across Tirupati, Shirdi and Vaishno Devi, among others as per a report in the Business Standard by Ruchika Chitravanshi

With 23 million visitors every year, Tirupati’s tally exceeds the combined tourist arrivals of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata. Some of the upcoming destinations for hotel companies include Shirdi, Nasik, Ajmer, Tirupati and Mathura, among others.  

“Religious destinations have taken a top priority for us in the past one year and we are keen on opening hotels in some such destinations. The domestic tourism in India mainly comprises those visiting relatives or pilgrimage with the latter being a much bigger part,” said Jean-Michele Casse, senior vice-president, operations, Accor Hotels India.

Himachal Pradesh government is planning to develop a religious tourist circuit by spending Rs 6.15 crore on the Una-Chintpurni-Bilaspur circuit to facilitate pilgrims visiting prominent shrines there.

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), which runs the luxury train Deccan Odyssey, plans to use the train for religious tourism to the popular pilgrimage destination of Shirdi in Ahmednagar district. 

MTDC will charge around Rs 20,000 per person for the round trip. The journey will also cover Trimbakeshwar, near Nashik. Besides, the Rajasthan government has put aside Rs 1.50 crore for development work at the Ajmer Dargah, Kailadevi, Salasar Balaji and Khatu Shyamji temples.

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