Ayodhya, the ancient city and birthplace of the legendary Hindu god Lord Ram, is emerging as the most visited religious place on Earth just a few months after the consecration of the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple. Ayodhya has surpassed every pilgrimage on the face of the earth in terms of tourist count, including the Vatican City and the Mecca of Saudi Arabia. Tourist Departments are testifying this statement with the numbers that can put anyone in amaze.
Ayodhya is one of the seven holiest places for Hindus and for centuries it has been significantly visited by devotees. However, the recently built Ram Mandir, dedicated to Ram Lalla, has garnered significant attention and positioned Ayodhya as a potential leader in global religious tourism. With this surge in interest, is Ayodhya on track to be the rising spiritual tourism hub in India? Let's look at what recent reports say.
| Agra (2023) | Ayodhya (Before Ram Janmabhoomi Temple) | Ayodhya (After Ram Janmabhoomi Temple) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Visits | 40 Thousands | 5 Thousands | 2 Lakhs |
| Annual Visits | 70-80 Lakhs | 3.5 Lakhs | 5 Cr (expected) |
Ayodhya previously gained global recognition after setting a record of lighting 2,223,676 oil lamps in the Deepotsav festival in Nov 2023, but 2024 is a new highlight for the city. The unbelievably rapid increase in domestic and foreign tourists visiting Ayodhya is fascinating to everyone.
However, Ayodhya has always been one of the significant religious places in India since ancient times but the city received mere 5,000 visitors every day until 2019. Also, Ayodhya was troubled for centuries due to the temple-mosque dispute, but as things worked out, the newly built Ram Janmabhoomi Temple became a pathbreaker for new heights of tourism in India and in the world.
Now the enormous count of footsteps in Ayodhya also surpassed India's most visited beauty, the Taj Mahal, with a stupendously huge difference. The Deputy Director of Tourism, RP Yadav stated that religious tourism in UP is growing exponentially as more devotees are coming to Ayodhya than tourists in Agra. While the Taj Mahal receives around 70-80 lakhs (7-8 million) of visitors annually, the Ram Janmabhoomi temple has already received a 1.7 crore tourist count since its consecration in around 2 months. Not just the Taj Mahal, but Ayodhya's tourism has also surpassed the tourism count of the two most visited religious places in the world, Vatican City and Mecca. Vatican City receives around 9 million and Mecca in Saudi Arabia around 20 million of tourism footfall. Meanwhile, according to the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust officials, 2 lakh (20 million) devotees visited the Ram Temple every day between 22nd January and 3rd April. If this is not enough to make you awestruck, there is another big surge to come in Ayodhya soon. The Temple committee has expected a massive crowd during the festival week of Ram Navami.
Ayodhya will celebrate Ram Navami festival in the prestigiously beautiful Ram Janmabhoomi Temple for the first time. Thus, an ultimate surge was already expected to visit the temple previously, but the number of devotees visiting the temple so far has pushed the previous expectations to another level. Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, stated that the temple is expecting 50 lakh (5 million) devotees to visit during Ram Navami Fair between 9th April (Navratri) to 17th April (Ram Navami). It will be a notable achievement for temple tourism in India as Ram Mandir will be receiving one-third of the footfall received in the last 2 months, in just 9 days. As no religious place has managed such a large number of pilgrims, the temple authority has requested devotees not to visit Ram Navami to avoid undue rush amid the prevailing heat waves.
Ram Mandir is transforming the face of Ayodhya, as never before. As the city keeps rapidly enhancing its infrastructure, more and more tourists will be visiting Ayodhya. Amid this boasting, Ayodhya is also nearing the Taj Mahal in earnings. As stated in the data of the Archaeological Survey of India, the Taj Mahal received around ₹25.6 crore (256 million INR) from ticket sales in 2022, on the other hand, Ram Janmabhoomi Temple has received ₹15 crore from donations, as stated by Prakash Gupta - office in-charge of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. However, the donation amount excludes the gold, silver, and other precious items also donated to the Ram Mandir.
Meanwhile, the economy of Ayodhya has also gained wings due to the rapid increase in footfall and demand. Land rates in Ayodhya have increased up to 10 times. Also, around 700 people converted their houses into homestays, which was 100 last year. The state government also has some ongoing construction around the temple complex to provide ease to visitors in the future.
