"Many states have responded to this website initiative of the Tourism Ministry. So far details of 243 destinations have been compiled and the effort is to cover every tourist spot in the country," Tourism Secretary Parvez Dewan said here at the CII conference on pilgrimage tourism.
He said "this will serve as a comprehensive catalogue for the foreign and domestic tourists including those travel in the pilgrimage route."
Describing faith tourism as "recession proof", Dewan said religious tourism held the key to India's effort to augment the flow of foreign tourists in the country and to facilitate domestic travelling.
"We have to have a proactive approach for developing these centres and should be sensitive to the needs of people who are visiting these centres. For instance, the hotels set up in Jain religious centres should address the sentimental values and food habits of that people," he said.
The Secretary mentioned about the plans of the ministry to develop more religious tourist circuits in the country.
"A jew pilgrimage centre would be opened up connecting cities like Kochi, where at one point of time a number of Jews lived and later migrated to other countries," he said.
Dwelling on the importance of connecting Sufi tourism in the country, Dewan said that there are 22 Sufi centres in the country that can be connected.
He also mentioned about the strengthening the connectivity of Chennai with pilgrimage centres in the North, primarily to cater to the needs of the Buddhists pilgrims from Sri Lanka.
Underscoring the need for better air, rail and road linkages for promoting pilgrim tourists in particular and general tourism in general, Dewan emphasised on greater involvement of stakeholders not only in formulating plans but also for its implementation.
