The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), which is an apex body of Industry associations,held a Roundtable on Pilgrimage Tourism "Opportunity abounds in India's Religious Circuits" in New Delhi on 22nd December 2012 to give a boost to the segment.

Mr Parvez Dewan, Secretary, Tourism, Government of India said that faith tourism is recession proof. "Religious tourism held the key to India’s effort to augment the flow of foreign tourists in the country and to facilitate domestic travelling. We have to have a proactive approach for developing these centres and should be sensitive to the needs of people who are visiting these centres. For instance, the hotels set up in Jain religious centres should address the sentimental values and food habits of that people,” he added.

To a question from the floor as to what were the numbers of people visiting various destinations in the country, Mr Dewan said that nowhere in the world data of the tourists are maintained on destination basis but collected state-wise. The Secretary mentioned about the plans of the ministry to develop more religious tourist circuits in the country. In this regard, he observed a Jew pilgrimage centre would be opened up connecting cities like Kochi, where at one point of time a number of Jews lived and later migrated to other countries.

Dwelling on the importance of connecting Sufi tourism in the country, the Secretary opined that there are 22 Sufi centres in the country that can be connected. He also mentioned about the strengthening the connectivity of Chennai with pilgrimage centres in the North, primarily to cater to the needs of the Buddhists pilgrims from Sri Lanka.

Similar plans are afoot for promoting pilgrimage tourism from ASEAN countries to Buddhist centres. The high-ended travellers, he said would look for more comforts and better infrastructure. Replying to a question from the floor about the need for connecting countries in SAARC, the Secretary said that some type of arrangement existed today and remarked that it could be strengthened. Similarly, the road connectivity with ASEAN countries could help augmenting pilgrimage tourism from these countries.

To another query regarding building of infrastructure facilities around the pilgrim centres, the Secretary said that the nodal ministry for such decisions are the Ministry of Surface Transport and the State governments and such decisions were taken on a holistic basis and not necessarily driven by tourism needs alone. However, he mentioned that his ministry funds last mile connectivity projects, with the shoe string funds at it command.

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