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The bucks stop at the altar

The bucks stop at the altar

Author: Sunny Verma
Publication: The Economic Times
Date: May 26, 2006
URL: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1569464.cms

With 25 lakh temples spread across the country - compare this with just 15 lakh schools - religion matters most in India. And so does religious tourism.


While more than 30% people tour south for religious purposes, the figure is over 20% for northern and western region. Around 10% R&P tourists visit east and central India. The North-Eastern region attracts less than 5% religious tourists.


No wonder around 8 crore domestic tourists visit religious places every year, generating Rs 10,531 crore annually from religious and pilgrimage (R&P) tourism. This figure is based on an ET analysis of Domestic Tourism Study (DTS) 2002 conducted by NCAER.
While Tirupati tops with annual revenue crossing Rs 1,000 crore, Vaishno Devi is not far behind. It generates over Rs 750 crore annually. Revenues of Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan are more than Rs 370 crore, whereas, Bodh Gaya in Bihar -- where Gautama Buddha attained Enlightenment -- makes a relatively meagre amount over Rs 25 crore.

In percentage terms, Maharashtra gets the highest R&P tourists followed by Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, respectively. Says Dr RK Shukla, project leader of DTS: "Southern region accounts for highest number of R&P tourists whereas northern states dominate business tourism."


While Tirupati tops with annual revenue crossing Rs 1,000 crore, Vaishno Devi is not far behind. It generates over Rs 750 crore annually. Revenues of Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan are more than Rs 370 crore, whereas, Bodh Gaya in Bihar makes a relatively meagre amount over Rs 25 crore.


While more than 30% people tour south for religious purposes, the figure is over 20% for northern and western region. Around 10% R&P tourists visit east and central India, according to DTS. However, the North-Eastern region attracts less than 5% religious tourists despite having some famous temples like Kamakhya, Navagraha and Balaji Mandir.

Navagraha temples in Assam, for instance, are devoted to nine (nava) major celestial bodies (Grahas) of Hindu astronomy. Says director of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and author of 'Krishna:The Playful Divine', Pavan K Varma, "there are very few nations that have as rich a cultural, physical, meta-physical, spiritual and intellectual heritage as India has. This is what makes our nation unique and mysterious. It also boosts tourism."

Some economists, however, say that religious adherence reduces national income. People waste a lot of man-hours in worshipping and travelling to far-off religious places, they say. An estimate puts this 'lost production due to religious observances' at $56 billion annually. (Perkins, John L, 'The Economic Cost of Religion,' Australian Humanist, No.68, Summer 2003.)

Mr Varma says: "to infer that religiosity leads to loss of production or GDP will be crossing the realm of rationality. Preaching relaxes mind and provides a sense of satisfaction to people. This adds more to economy by restoring a person's productivity than it takes in form of man-hours."

While for some religious tourism is a matter of faith, for some a matter of fun and for others it's a waste. Whatever be the viewpoint, one thing quiet clear is that it's a thriving economic activity whose frontiers, as they say, lie beyond intellect.


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