Despite being partially built, the Ram temple has already attracted some 15 million visitors since its inauguration, according to India’s Tourism Ministry.
Despite being partially built, it has already attracted some 15 million visitors since its inauguration, according to India’s Ministry of Tourism. The surrounding pilgrimage site, which covers around 28ha, will be equipped to host a million pilgrims at any one time. Also known by its ancient name, Kashi, Varanasi attracted around 80 million visitors in 2022, almost four times the number recorded in the pre-pandemic year 2019. Whether the increase reflects a sharp rise in religiosity over the period or merely “catch-up” visitation after the pandemic is not clear. Whether Ayodhya will match the huge expectations of it in terms of visitor arrivals remains to be seen, but it is reasonable to assume that the numbers to both Varanasi and Ayodhya will be sizeable.
The potential for employment is immense, covering areas like hospitality, retail, food services, local transport – from luxury bus and taxi drivers to rickshaw pullers – tour operators, entertainment providers and various faith-based services such as temple guides, priests and performers of ceremonies.
But India’s government plans to rejuvenate religious tourism nationally. Soon after coming to power in 2014, it launched a new scheme called the Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive, or Prasad – the acronym means “God’s gift” – which will identify and redevelop pilgrimage sites across the country to boost religious and cultural tourism.
India attracted only 9.2 million international tourists in 2023, compared with 35.5 million for China and 13.6 million for Singapore. India’s share of international tourism receipts was a paltry 1.6 per cent in 2023.