Pilgrim spots like Somnath, Dwarka, Pavagadh and Palitana are a gaining popularity amongst tourists, as the state records a nearly 35 per cent rise in tourist flow to pilgrimage destinations in Gujarat in the last two years.
According to data from the Gujarat Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisation Limited (GITCO), which manages the Tourist Flow Information System (TFIS) for the Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd (TCGL), during 2009-10 religious destinations saw 29.29 million tourists, which grew to 39.44 million tourists in 2013-14, up by 34.6 per cent.
Interestingly, GITCO also pointed out that in case of pilgrimage spots, a large number of tourists are not staying overnight. Technically, however, pilgrims who do not stay overnight are not counted under tourist flow. But, since the same day return flow to pilgrim destinations is very large, GITCO had organised a special assessment of such flow. According to the assessment, in 2009-10, 6.13 million tourists stayed overnight, 20.17 million did not stay overnight, while 2.9 million stayed in make-shift accommodation. Similarly, the break-up for 2013-14 includes, 8 million overnight tourists, 27.9 million tourists who did not stay overnight, and around 3.4 million pilgrims who stayed in make-shift accommodation.
In contrast, the growth in overall tourist flow to the state is in the range of 12 per cent, up from last fiscal’s 252 million tourists.
Meanwhile, the state government is also gearing up to seek assistance from the Centre under its recently announced National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD), which aims to beautify and improve amenities and infratstructure at pilgrimage centres and an amount of Rs 100 crore has been proposed for this initiative. The Ministry of Tourism is formulating a new scheme for implementation.
Sanjay Kaul, managing director of TCGL said that the state government has already undertaken several projects to improve infrastructure at pilgrimage spots, and would also seek assistance from the Centre under the new scheme.
