As spiritual tourism rises, hotels and resorts queue up to pay obeisance

As spiritual tourism rises, hotels and resorts queue up to pay obeisance with properties, aartis, meditation, and more

Second-generation entrepreneur Tarun Gulati has never been more excited about being in the hospitality business. His family-run 30-year-old hotel, Ganga Kinare, in Rishikesh, organises morning and evening aartis at its private ghat for the guests, who can also meditate inside centuries-old caves.

“Spiritual tourism has taken off like never before. People want holistic holidays, combining the power of spirituality with wellness,” says Gulati.
 

He is going all out to cash in on it, with two more properties: Holywater by Ganga Kinare has Varr, a restaurant whose menu is inspired by temples all over India; Oneness by Ganga Kinare organises a 10-minute trek after which you take a raft to cross the Ganges to reach the destination. Both these are in Rishikesh as well.
 

An IIM-Bangalore alumnus, Gulati believes spirituality is no longer about visiting temples. “It is more holistic and experience-led,” he says. His expansion plans are centred around “pristine river bodies that house religious sites.”
 

He is not alone in this spiritual tourism quest.
 

Be it five-star hotels or high-end boutique properties, everyone wants a slice of spiritual tourism, or “pray-cation”.
 

Raft of rooms
 

According to data collated by Noesis Capital Advisors, a hotel consultancy firm, mid-size and upscale hotel companies are planning to invest Rs 3,500 crore in holy towns over the next two years, which could add more than 5,000 new rooms and 25,000 jobs. Overall, according to ICRA, the credit rating firm, spiritual tourism will be a significant driver for revenue growth of the Indian hotel industry.

According to data provided by the Ministry of Tourism, religious destinations received roughly 1,400 million tourists in 2022. It is expected to generate revenues worth Rs 5,900 crore by 2028.
 

A report published in March 2024 by CBRE South Asia, titled ‘Decoding Real Estate through the Spiritual Tourism Lens’, says retail chains are fast expanding in 14 key cities: Amritsar, Ajmer, Varanasi, Katra, Somnath, Shirdi, Ayodhya, Puri, Tirupati, Mathura, Dwarka, Bodh Gaya, Guruvayur, and Madurai.
 

The reasons for growth, the report says, are enhanced infrastructure in terms of road, air, and rail connectivity; the continued rise of disposable income among Indians, and the overall desire of people to undertake a journey unto themselves.
 

The Central government’s focus on making the country’s sacred cities into tourist hubs is also driving the demand. For this, the finance minister allocated roughly Rs 2,000 crore in the 2024 Interim Budget, up from around Rs 1,300 crore in the previous year.

Photo: Oneness Rishikesh

The tourism ministry, in 2014-15, launched the National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD) scheme to develop and identify pilgrimage sites in India. A total of 76 projects have been identified so far, including in Northeast India, which is seeing a rapid expansion of hotels.
 

ITC’s Welcomhotel Gangtok opens in Sikkim in 2026, Leela Palaces Hotels and Resorts also opens in Sikkim in 2026, Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) last year opened its seventh property in the region — the 80-room Vivanta hotel in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, last year, barely 6.5 kilometres from the largest monastery in the country, the Tawang monastery.
 

Nearly all branded hotels are expanding in temple towns across India, including in Ayodhya, where the new Ram temple was inaugurated in January 2024. Hotel chains and brands such as ITC, Taj, Radisson, Marriott, and Trident, among others, are set to have their projects in the city in the next couple of years.
 

Pilgrim’s progress
 

Suma Venkatesh, executive vice president, real estate and development, IHCL, confirms that the hotel chain’s current strategy is to expand in pilgrim destinations.
 

“We’ve inked deals for hotels in Ayodhya, Haridwar, Sarnath, Pushkar, Ujjain, Vrindavan, Dharamshala,” says Venkatesh. IHCL will have three hotels in Ayodhya across Vivanta, Ginger, and SeleQtions brands, and two in Haridwar. It recently debuted in Katra and Dharamshala, with a Vivanta and a SeleQtions, respectively, and launched the brand’s second hotels in both Tirupati and Rishikesh.
 

“We will be opening a 90-key Taj hotel at Puri in quarter two of this financial year, a new addition to our spiritual destinations,” says Venkatesh.
 

ITC Hotels, too, is spreading strategically. Its Mementos Udaipur, which opened last year, is 15 minutes from the Eklingji temple and a 40-minute drive from the Nathdwara temples. The price range for a one-night stay there is between Rs 55,000-plus taxes and Rs 70,000-plus taxes.
 

ITC’s month-old property, Storii Solan, is about an hour’s drive from the Bhureshwar Mahadev temple. Storii is the brand of boutique properties by ITC, launched in 2022. Many of the properties, including Storii Rishikesh, which will open by 2026, are close to religious sites.
 

Speaking of Rishikesh again, Lemon Tree opened its 126-key property there in April, as did the high-end Westin Resort & Spa, which will set you back by Rs 40,000-plus taxes for a night of luxury.
 

Sheo Shekhar Shukla, principal secretary, tourism and culture department, and managing director, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board, says many of the branded boutique hotels and resort chains are going to open in Madhya Pradesh.

Additionally, Madhya Pradesh has announced its entry into cruise tourism next year, where pontoons and jetties will cover a 120-km stretch over the Narmada river from Adi Shankacharya’s Statue of Oneness to Gujarat’s Statue of Unity. Two airports have already been announced in the state. With Rs 2,000 crore getting sanctioned for art- and culture-related schemes, the state has identified 20 projects to include sound-and-light shows, museums expounding Vedanta philosophy, rural tourism, and an overall boost in tourism.
 

“The whole idea,” says Shukla, “is to boost spiritual tourism further by making it an even more enhanced, immersive experience. The coming two years,” he adds, “will see a huge growth in the state because of spirituality tourism.”

In line with prayer

Amritsar
 

•    100-room Grand Mercure by Accore (2026)

•    215-room Holiday Inn (2027)

•    147-room Le Méridien (2023)

•    80-room Ramada Encore by Wyndham (2023)

Rishikesh 
 

•    55-room riverfront property by ITC (2026)

•    132 rooms and suites by LemonTree (2025)

•    35-room Pride Hotel (2023)

•    Eldeco Group’s housing project at Rs 10 crore

Ujjain
 

•    IHCL’S 130-room project announced (2024)

•    Radisson (2024)

Ayodhya

•    Park Inn by Radisson (2024) has opened

•    IHCL, Hilton, Taj, Marriott, Oyo, LemonTree, etc, will open in the next 2-3 years

•    Radisson has announced its second hotel

Guruvayur
 

•    Lilac hotel by Tamara, Guruvayur (2024)

•    Park Inn and Suites by Radisson, Guruyavur (end-2024);

Tirupati
 

•    100-room Trident, at Rs 142 crore (2027)

Madikeri, Kodagu district
 

•    150-key Welcomhotel (2024)

Northeast
 

•    150-room Vivanta by IHCL in Guwahati (2026) and Tawang (2024)

•    60-room Welcomhotel Gangtok (2026)

•    Holiday Inn, Guwahati (2027)

•    Leela Palace Hotels and Resorts, Sikkim