Govt to showcase Ramayana and Krishna circuits to woo global investors

Encashing on the international demand for spiritual tourism, the Tourism ministry has drawn up a roadmap to hard sell Ramayana and Krishna to the global community. The ministry has charted out a strategy to sell Ramayana and Krishna circuits as viable products to the domestic and international investors during upcoming Tourism Investors’ Summit. 

The Central government has put its weight behind the Tourism sector to rope in global investors, and boost employment potential by organizing the first ever Tourism Investors’ Summit from September 21 to September 23 in Delhi.

“We are developing theme based circuits and these two are part of it. The ministry has allocated Rs 250 crore for development of Ramayana circuit ,whereas for  the Krishna circuit, Rs 175 crore has been earmarked,” said Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma.

According to ministry officials, under Ramayana Circuit, 11 destinations, including Ayodhya, Chitrakoot, Sitamarhi, in the country spread across six states are on the radar. Apart from  destinations in India, this circuit would offer tourists a visit to few destinations in Nepal like Janakpuri believed to be birth place of Sita and also places of interest in Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, under Krishna circuit, 12 destinations spread across five states have been proposed. 

The destinations include Dwarka in Gujarat; Nathdwara, Jaipur and Sikar in Rajasthan; Kurukshetra in Haryana; Mathura, Vrindavan, Gokul, Barsana, Nandgaon and Govardhan in Uttar Pradesh and Puri in Odisha.

“The idea behind these circuits is to harness pilgrimage tourism for its direct and multiplier effects on employment generation and economic development. We also hope to develop world class infrastructure in the religious destinations,” said a Tourism ministry official. 

The Tourism sector is the third largest foreign exchange earner for the country. In year, 2014 India registered 7.7 million foreign tourist arrivals. Buddhist circuit is a huge hit among  globe trotters.

The government will showcase these two circuits prominently along with the Buddhist circuit, so that global as well as domestic investors shell out money to build high end hotels and other international level infrastructure. “These religious destinations have potential to be showcased as world class tourism products,” added the tourism ministry official.

These two circuits are part of National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD). The Ministry of Tourism launched the Swadesh Darshan scheme in 2014-15 with an aim to develop theme based tourist circuits in the country to help in job creation,build quality infrastructure and to showcase India’s rich culture.