VARANASI, India – In India, some members of Gen Z prefer temples to nightclubs.
Shivam Dwivedi, from Prayagraj district in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, prays at his local temple at least twice a week.
Dwivedi, 19, and his friends avoid trips to the beaches and party spots popular with that age group. Instead, he and his friends Saurabh Shukla, 21, and Anand Dwivedi, 20, prefer to visit important Hindu holy sites, some of which are in remote parts of the country.
The friends, all engineering students, told Al Jazeera that visiting religious sites gives them spiritual peace and they find a “source of energy”.
“We feel a connection with God… The pressures of education and career advancement can often become unmanageable, but there is a source of energy flowing within us that gives us spiritual peace,” Shukla told Al Jazeera, as he queued outside the Kashi Vishwanath temple in the holy city of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh state.
Parties and flashy nightlife don’t attract them, Shivam Dwivedi added. “We have never planned visits to places like Goa where people go just to enjoy hard parties, casinos and nightlife. What we are looking for is peace and positivity found in religious places and nature,” he explained.
Religious holidays account for 60 percent of domestic tourism in India, according to a March report by real estate consultancy CBRE South Asia.
The industry is estimated to grow at an annual rate of 16.2% and could reach $4.6 billion by 2033, according to the report.
Part of that business is driven by Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012).
The consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya in January and coverage of the event on social media and in the news media sparked interest.
Anand Dwivedi, Saurabh Shukla and Shivam Dwivedi prefer traveling to religious places over party spots [Gurvinder Singh/Al Jazeera]
Giresh Vasudev Kulkarni, founder of Temple Connect, a company that provides information about Hindu temples to pilgrims around the world, said the rise of social media, combined with young people’s curiosity, has led to an increase in religious tourism in the country.
“The younger generation is completely addicted to social media. People are visiting places which were considered far-flung places till a few years ago and creating content there. Such content posted on YouTube and other social media platforms sparks curiosity among people, especially the youth, who visit there to create similar content or even offer prayers,” Kulkarni explained.
Santosh Singh, founder of Spiritual Tours, a Varanasi-based company that offers tours to religious sites, noted that the opening of the Ram temple in Ayodhya marks a major breakthrough in the rise of religious tourism.
He said the new road connecting Varanasi and Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh had reduced travel time from six hours to four.
Pilgrims are also planning to travel to Sarnath, about 10 km northeast of Varanasi, where Gautama Buddha is believed to have given his first sermon after attaining enlightenment.
“Since January, business has grown by 60 to 70 percent,” Singh told Al Jazeera. “Earlier, April to September was the slow season but now it is super busy and even Varanasi’s 2,000 or so hotels are finding it difficult to cope with the surge in guests,” he said.
Some 8.2 million tourists visited Varanasi in April alone, according to RK Rawat, deputy director of tourism for Varanasi and Vidyamchal Division, and state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told local media that the Ram temple has been attracting an average of 150,000 visitors a day since it was opened to the public.
Government Initiatives
The federal government introduced a scheme called the Pilgrimage Revitalization and Spiritual Heritage Enhancement Drive (PRASHAD), which means food offered to the gods in Hindi, in 2015. Under the scheme, the government spent 16.3 billion rupees ($195.43 million) to develop infrastructure around 73 religious sites.
Visitors to the Jagannath Temple in Puri can take a rest in the passageway. [Gurvinder Singh/Al Jazeera]
It also plans to introduce high-speed rail links to connect some of these facilities with other big cities, build international airports in cities like Ayodhya and Puri to ease access for foreign tourists, and provide interest-free loans to state governments to build shopping malls to showcase their unique products.
State governments have also played their role in attracting more tourists to important shrines.
In January, the Odisha state government opened a 75-metre-long walkway around the outer walls of the Jagannath temple in Puri, a project it has invested 8 billion rupees ($96 million) to develop. The air-conditioned walkway, equipped with drinking water and toilets, provides a welcome respite from the scorching heat and humidity for devotees queuing to enter the temple.
“The corridor has helped increase tourism as there is no confusion on the path,” said Jatin Panda, senior security officer at the Shree Jagannath Temple Office, which manages the temple.
“Post-COVID, we have also seen an increase in teenagers and young visitors to the temple. Earlier, out of 100 people visiting the temple, 10 were young people, but now out of the same number, at least 40 are young people. This could be linked to their growing faith in God. [or] “Post-pandemic job insecurity,” he said, pointing out that the latest data available shows that tourists visiting Puri will rise to 10.47 million in 2022 from 10.35 million in 2018.
Business is booming
The rise in spiritual tourism is benefiting related sectors including hospitality and retail, which are jumping on the trend with yoga retreats, meditation centres and wellness packages that include themed dining and shopping.
The CBRE report lists 14 Indian cities, including Amritsar, Ajmer, Varanasi, Ayodhya and Puri, as major metros witnessing this boom.
“The rapid expansion of spiritual tourism in India is driving the growth of the country’s faith-based tourism market,” said Anshuman Magazine, chairman and CEO, CBRE India.
Debasis Kumar, vice-president of the Puri Hotels Association, told Al Jazeera that the average occupancy rate of hotels in the city has jumped from 70% before the pandemic to 90% now.
“Puri has the unique advantage of having temples and a beach which attracts the younger generation,” Kumar said.
“It’s hard to find quality people [to keep up with the tourist influx]”The job cuts during the Covid pandemic have plagued the industry. We are also seeing young people booking hotels. Many of them are driving alone to come to temples and spend time there. The chaos-free corridors are attracting the younger generation.”
