The travel recovery in India is driven by religious fervour, reveals the latest edition of OYO Cultural Travel 2022 Roundup Report. The report highlights that Varanasi is the top religious destination for bookers across India followed by Tirupati, Puri, Amritsar and Haridwar. Alongside these cities, Shirdi, Rishikesh, Mathura, Mahabaleshwar and Madurai are the other strong spiritual tourism destinations in India, witnessing maximum growth in bookers over the past year.
Varanasi is one of the top pilgrim cities for both Hindus and Buddhists which explains its popularity among the religious tourist destinations across India. With rising interest in community experiences across India, a lot of travellers are now looking forward to exploring rich cultural destinations, lesser-known locations, royal palaces and spiritual or wellness destinations. Post the festive holiday season this year, Global hospitality technology platform, OYO reveals interesting insights on spiritual and pilgrimage travel across India. As per OYO’s booking data insights, August, received the maximum demand for pilgrimage destinations.
As per OYO’s booking data analyzed between August to October 2022, Varanasi emerged as the top destination with the maximum number of bookings across spiritual destinations in India. Interestingly, the city observed maximum footfall on the 13th of August due to the festive holiday season in India. While Varanasi scored on the maximum bookings and high growth, the maximum increase in bookings have been observed across Shirdi, Tirupati and Puri at 483%, 233% and 117% respectively. Amritsar and Haridwar also witnessed strong growth. Alongside these cities, Mathura, Mahabaleshwar and Madurai are emerging spiritual tourism destinations in India, witnessing maximum growth over the past year.
