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REVIEW OF RELIGIOUS TOURISM IN INDIA (A SPECIAL REFERENCE TO

HARYANA)

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 ISSN - 2229-3620 SHODH SANCHAR BULLETIN
APPROVED UGC CARE Vol. 10, Issue 40, October-December, 2020
VVS Page Nos. 60-64
AN INTERNATIONAL BILINGUAL PEER REVIEWED REFEREED RESEARCH JOURNAL

REVIEW OF RELIGIOUS TOURISM IN INDIA Ramgopal*

Manpreet Singh**
(A SPECIAL REFERENCE TO HARYANA) Sushil Kalra***

ABSTRACT
Religion is one of the tourism phenomena, which attract thousands of tourists every year from across the globe.
The religious journey is also one of the motivations, which lead to inner peace and satisfaction. There are various types
of tourists visiting any sacred site, some of them are just a traveler who travelled for knowledge and enjoyment but a
large segment is consisting of those pilgrims, who wish to meet their religious goals. In the Indian context, we call it a
Tirth Yatra. There are very many positive and negative effects of this form of tourism. The present study shows some of
those effects in terms of tourism. Religious tourism is also connected with the emotions of a traveler. There are various
sites like Kurukshetra in Haryana, Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh, and many more in India. If we talk about only north
India, there are hundreds of religious tourism sites that attract many tourists from all over India to fulfill their religious
needs. Some of them wish to meet with their God and some of them want the new experience of a sacred journey.
Travelling for religion is not a new thing. It is as old as religion itself. People are travelling for centuries for religion.
Growing business, economic growth, Entrepreneurship, satisfactions are some of the positive faces of this form of
tourism but on the other hand sustainability, pollution, mass tourism, population density are some of the adverse faces
of religious tourism. Religion some time also motivates to migrate from one place to another. Many communities
around the world travelled long distances just to satisfy their religious thrust. The present study is a small contribution to
religious tourism in context to the literature on hand.
Keywords : Tourism, religion, Motivation, Economy, Religious, Travel

1. Introduction acquiring peace and they found themselves. In religious

If we need to understand the true meaning of
religious tourism, there are various factors that
responsible for this phenomenon like a religious tourist
and various locations of religious tourism, the positivity
which we are gaining in the earth, the role of technology
in religious tourism, various religious tourism attractions,
motivation and many more (Rashid, 2018). Spiritual
tourism has a new term that comes in the tourism industry.
It is a combination of two words spiritual and tourism.
Spiritual tourism has a different place due to respondents
are motivated for peace reasons (Gupta, 2017). This is an
exclusive type of tourism where people travel for
tourism, tourist satisfaction is measured by various
factors which are classified into subjective and objective
factors (Gupta 2008).
The word pilgrimage means Tirtha and it means a
fort or crossing. People go to Tirtha places where people
cross over the river of samsara. This is a repeated cycle of
birth and death. In the Hindu religion, there is a belief of
afterlife so that's why Hindu people perform certain
rituals for their loved ones. They do worship of Holy
River Ganga and do some other rituals. This kind of
activities performed at any scared site adds importance to
the sacredness of that place (Goswami, 2016). One of the

*Research Scholar - GNA University

**Research Scholar - GNA University
***Research Scholar - GNA University
Vol. 10 Issue 40 October to December 2020 60 BI-LINGUAL INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNAL
northern states of India named Haryana is having the
potential to grow as a religious tourism destination. The
word Haryana is consisting of the combination of two
words Hari means God and Ayana means the home, the
meaning is the abode of God. It is one of the states which
represent the face of India, having a vast culture and a rich
history (HTDC, 2020). This state possesses great
potential for tourism and various tourism opportunities.
Religious Tourism here is the source of development and
potentiality to generate new jobs and opportunities
(Kumar, 2014).
Singh & Sharma (2013) talks about the
opportunities of tourism for the vendors near Brahm
Sarovar, which is situated in Kurukshetra known as one
of the holy cities of this state. They mentioned that
tourism has a positive impact on the business of the local
vendors and even impacted the local culture of this place.
Sustainable tourism is also one of the emerging factors
(Jackowski & Smith, 1992). Traveling for religion is as
old as the religion itself. Some of the researchers believe
that it is the oldest form of tourism (Terzidou, 2010).
Traditionally a religious journey is to find the truth,
sometime the inner peace and the inner beliefs (Vukonić
1996: 80). Faith is also one of the key factors to visit any
pilgrimage site. There are two types of traveler pilgrims
& tourists. In these contexts the pilgrims have higher
motivations to travel any religious site and a tourist are
having higher recreational or cultural intentions to travel
any religious site (Nyaupane, Timothy & Poudel 2015).
2. Methodology
All papers published from 2000 to 2019 are taken
into consideration. Random papers are selected from
different journals; some of the books are also taken into
consideration. Only one paper from the year 1992 is
selected because the author has given a deeper insight
into religious tourism. A total of 40 research papers are
selected from different journals and out of those only 25
are selected, 1 tourism website and 1 book on religious
tourism are included, one Ph.D. thesis also included in the
study. Books and journals other than the English
language are excluded; Encyclopedia and magazines are
also excluded. The entire team of authors wants to declare
that if some of the studies have been missed or
Vol. 10 Issue 40 October to December 2020
misunderstood. It has not been done intentionally.
3. Various aspects of religious Tourism
3.1 Challenges and opportunities
Religious places are now become some of the
famous tourist destinations, not only for pilgrim purposes
but for frequent travelers as well. Tourist not only travels
for religious reasons but for knowledge and enjoyment
also (Griffiths, 2011). Shined (2008) bring up in her study
that religious tourism is changing nowadays. It becomes
difficult to create a line between a pilgrim and tourism
because people are traveling for different needs. Some
are traveling to fulfill their religious beliefs and some are
just the frequent traveler to visit the place.
Here one thing is very important that religious
tourism is converting into mass tourism now though it is
not a new phenomenon, it is affecting the natural
resources drastically. Chaudhery, kumar & ambardar
(2009) disclose that the tourist traveling in a particular
place, need to be very much responsible for the resources
and environment and if this will emerged as mass
tourism, the experts warned that this will also become the
problem for the tourism sector. On the another aspect
religion also motivates migration and so many people
around the world migrate just for religious purposes and
these numbers are increasing in recent decades
(Jackowski, 2000)
Tourism is one of the phenomena which are hugely
responsible for economic growth and employment
generation in 21st century. Haryana has huge possibilities
for development in the tourism segment with its various
attractions. This state is also doing efforts to generate
employment in the tourism sector also focusing on to
become a most favored landing place by improving its
various resources like natural, cultural, and technical. If
government supports the private sector then tourism
industry can shows exponential growth in the future
(Kumar 2014). The government of India has taken great
initiative for promoting the tourism; the scheme was
launched by the name Swadesh darshan. Haryana is
pioneered in highway tourism but under this Swadesh,
darshan scheme, government has taken Kurukshetra for
development from this state. Swadesh Darshan consists
of various circuits with no inclusion of Haryana tourism
61 BI-LINGUAL INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNAL
resources (Kumar 2018).
If we talk about Indian context, there are many
religions that people are following and also respecting the
other's religion. Every religion has its religious place,
which also provides opportunities to others to know about
their religion and cultural values. It is identified that
acceptance inside the Hindu cult and non-Hindu also
have faith in Hindu culture. This helps in strengthening
the culture and increase the economy & Infrastructor
(Okumus et al., 2015). There are seven motives which
affect the traveler's motivation. These are as follows
“spiritual fulfillment, inner peace, inner healing, faith
exploration, congregational togetherness, personal
fulfillment and religious participation” (Kruger,
Saayman, 2014). Religious tourism is also affected by
terrorism and in some of the destinations like Palestine; it
had created a very adverse effect. Political changes also
create adverse effects on religious tourism. (Suleiman,
Mohamed, 2011)
3.2 Economic impacts and scope
Due to mythological overview Brahm Sarovar in
Kurukshetra attracts many tourists during the festive
seasons. These are those dates which are important on the
Hindu mythological calendar and it creates thousands of
opportunities to the venders for this area (Ravinder,
Kaushik 2017). Weidenfeld, (2005) reveals about the
requirements of the religious tourism customer e.g. hotel
rooms may be categorized by the provision of particular
religious décor, facilities (e.g. a place of worship),
services (e.g. organized religious activities and religious
items such as bible). Religion and tourism both have an
association, religion, and religious places motivate to
travel throughout the globe. It is a significant source of
attraction to targeted visitors (Henderson, 2010).
Religious tourism also affects the hotel's business and the
economic growth of the different destinations. The hotels
have increased occupancy rates and have a higher amount
of business throughout the year (Egresi, Kara, Bayram,
2012)
3.3 Future prospective
Though Haryana has less number of tourist flows
in comparison to neighboring states viz. Uttarakhand and
Himachal. The government can play a key role player to
Vol. 10 Issue 40 October to December 2020
increase the tourist inflow and the tourism of this state.
Many places are only in documents but not having the
proper tourist inflow if government plans properly for
these sites (Kumar, Taxak 2013). Religion and religious
beliefs motivate the traveler to travel across the world and
this helps in cross-culture development. Beautification of
the religious sites can also lead to the diminishing of the
faith of traveler and before modifying any tourist sites
this fact can be taken into consideration (Terzidou, 2010).
Marketing plays a major role in the promotion of
the sacred sites. The promotion of the old religious site
can attract a large number of tourist inflows and it can
become one of the key players to promote any tourist
destination (Singh, 2012). If we talk about community
building then religious tourism plays a major role in many
places, people wishes to travel on the sacred sites and they
also want to enjoy the serenity of the destination (Kreiner
& Gatrell, J.2006). India is one of the countries, which are
having a rich culture and a great history so here are so
many opportunities for various kinds of tourism
structures. The tourism sector has emerged as a major
source of business for India (Singh, 2012).
Seshadri & Ganesh (2011) stated the dark face of
religious tourism, which will affect the future of many
other segments of tourism sectors they mentioned that
there are many sacred destinations are inside in the
protected areas of India and all the roads leading to these
special places can affect drastically the flora and fauna of
these places. Approximately 1413 individuals belong to
56 different species were killed on these roads. At the
festivals also there is an increment in damages on the
living beings of these places. On the other hand this form
of tourism also affecting the lives of locals and the
residents. The environment should also need to be
protected and preserved to save the future of religious
tourism. The pollution in some of the tourism sites is also
increasing drastically which is also a matter of thought
(Foruzan, 2014).
Özcan, Bişkin, & Şimşek, (2019) States that
religious tourism can increase the economical conditions
of any particular place. It can play a major role in socio-
economic development in various countries. In
developing countries also it is one of the key factors,
62 BI-LINGUAL INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNAL
which affect the economic conditions of the region. Even
it is helping in raising the standards of living and helps to
remove the poverty of many nations (Vijayanand, 2012).
The economic conditions are preferred most on social
cost in tourism though the locals prefer less ordinary
tourists and more religious tourists. The perception can
be the change in terms of business and social
development (Terzidou, Stylidis & Szivas, 2008).
Tourist's religious needs should also take into
consideration to increase the volumes in the different
areas of religious tourism around the world. It is one of
the phenomena which directly lead to customer
satisfaction and it leads to repeat purchase intentions
(Weidenfeld, 2006).
4. Conclusion
Religious tourism has two different faces positive
and negative. Its positive face shows the bright side of the
tourism industry, regional economic growth and
destination development. During Geeta Jayanti
Mahotsav the government gives the shops to different
venders these shops are built on the banks of Brahm
Sarovar and vendors from different regions, trade very
many different souvenirs representing the culture and
traditions of the particular place and not even the
souvenirs of the particular state is sold here but the
monuments are also in demand. These kinds of activities
promote regional tourism as well as it creates the scope
for religious tourism. But the negative face of religious
tourism creates many questions in the mind due to mass
tourism in the particular place the natural resources get
affected very dangerously.
Some authors suggest that religious tourism is
converting into mass tourism. It needs to be changed into
sustainable tourism to save natural resources. The bright
side of this form of tourism is also creating economic
growth and employment generation. People are
becoming an entrepreneur and creating new business
startups in different religious destinations. Religious
tourism is one of the very great forms of tourism and if
this form is handled wisely it gives a huge lot of
opportunities for the future. In this present competitive
environment, this industry has been looking always for
new customer segments and ways of improving
Vol. 10 Issue 40 October to December 2020
competitiveness. Religious tourism requires a whole and
independent area of research so that to access the
requirements of the customers and satisfy the religious
needs in the accommodation industry. It can be taken into
consideration in the marketing process as well
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