 "About 3 mn foreign tourists to visit Mahakumbh Mela, says tourism minister")
The Indian government has doubled its estimate for foreign tourists visiting Mahakumbh Mela in Uttar Pradesh to 3 million, buoyed by the overwhelming response from overseas visitors, Minister of Tourism and Culture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said on Thursday.
“We used to expect about 1.5 million people (foreign tourists) to visit Mahakumbh. Considering the kind of response and the inflow we have seen, we have revised our estimation, which is double our initial estimate,” he said at a travel trade show.
The minister said 170 million people had visited the Hindu festival at Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj till Wednesday, the 17th day of the 45-day festival which ends on February 25. This year’s festival is also considered unique due to an astronomical calculation of a constellation alignment witnessed once every 144 years.
The government expects 450 million people to attend the festival. Earlier, Uttar Pradesh officials noted that the Mahakumbh, which was attended by 250 million people in 2019, will surpass other major global events in terms of attendance, according to an official release.
Shekhawat said about Rs 2.3 trillion in revenue is generated through international tourists and India has almost reached close to achieving this figure clocked during pre-Covid time.
He said the country’s tourism industry is expected to grow with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20 per cent in the next couple of decades, driven by the rise in India’s middle-income group and disposable income.
“We can see the province of India as a destination as well as a market for tourism,” Shekhawat said, adding that the government was working on decongesting certain locations and promoting alternative locations.