Abstract
The present study confined to Kurukshetra and empirically investigate participation of local community and role of government towards development of religious tourism in area. The study used 234 responses conveniently collected by using self-administered questionnaire. On the analysis of data using different statistical tools, the study reports sufficient potential of religious tourism in the area along with availability of basic and limited facilities. From an empirical perspective, the study reports moderate participation level of local community in tourism development and government as major decision-making body for tourism development in the area. The study concludes to implement a participatory approach in tourism planning as a mechanism to accelerate the overall development of the area.
TopIntroduction
The religious tourism is an integral part of human travel and among the most ancient of travel destination such as holy shrines, temples, rivers, festivals and other sacred sites. The visit to these places (pilgrimage) has been major motive of movement and migration of people along with seeking outdoor recreation (Shinde,2008) and thus progressively attaining resurgence throughout the world and has become an essential component of tourism industry. Thus, every region of the country is identified with its unique culture and religious heritage and hence, is a paradise for those seeking religious and pilgrimage places along with unique features of modernity and traditional hospitality (Dasgupta, 2011). India is dotted with thousands of prominent religious tourism places such as sacred four dham including Badrinath, Puri, Rameshwaram and Dwarka, besides Ajmer, Goa, Bodhgaya, Amritsar and Mount Abu are among some famous pilgrimage places (Singh,2002). The incredible tourism potential of country, succeed to receive more than 1.5 million foreign tourist arrivals and above 6.7 million domestic tourists visits in the country during 2021 (Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India, 2022).
Among tourism potential in the country, the Kurukshetra has been emerging as a popular destination for religious tourism in the region (Singhal, 2009). Kurukshetra is located in northern state of Haryana is considered as important among tourists. The destination is famous as the battle of ‘Mahabharata’ was fought and lord ‘Krishna’ had preached his philosophy of ‘Karma’ at this place as well as it is richly dotted with many important religious tourist attractions (Kumar & Singh, 2014). Religious tourism development in Kurukshetra is going well and numerous religious places are scattered in the city. Every year millions of tourists visited different attractions Kurukshetra to places such as Sacred water tank of Brahm Sarovar, Bhadra Kali temple, Bhishma Kund, Sthaneshwara Mahadev Temple and very famous International Gita festival and Sun eclipse celebrated at sacred water tank ‘Brahma Sarovar’ received huge influx of visitors to the area.
The number of tourist arrivals to Kurukshetra was notices as 11.71 Lakhs during the year 2021-22 from 11.50 lakhs during 2011-12 (Statistical Abstract of Haryana, 2021-22) and thus, considering the touristic importance of Kurukshetra, number of efforts has been taken by the Indian Government and concerned authorities for integrated development of mega destinations for suitability addressing the existing infrastructure gaps and to speed up the pilgrimage tourism in the area. For instance, the region is considered under integrated circuit scheme to develop the position of tourism in the area. Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD) of the country under the aegis of Ministry of Tourism has selected Kurukshetra under Krishna circuit and its surrounding tourist spots for development (FICCI,2015). Resultantly, with the improvement of basic facilities and amenities at the destination, the tourist footfalls increased in the area. For instance, nearly 1.2 million tourists have been visited Kurukshetra during the year 2021-22 as per report of the Statistical Abstract of Haryana (2021-22).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Community: The group of people meets each other because they live nearby, not because they particularly want to be together. In a community, the members often have shared values and symbols.
Tourism Professionals: Individuals who have a vested interest in development, including community members; NGOs; planning, and government officials; hotel owners, tour operators, guides, transportation providers, and representatives from other related services in the private sector.
Infrastructure: Construction needed to support economic development.
Shrine: A place, building or area which relates to some religious interest.
Religious Tourism: Travel to religious places, events, gatherings, rivers, caves, temples that relates to religious significance for a particular religion.
Tourism Development: Development that meets the needs and aspirations of the tourism sector growth along with consequential benefits (economic, socio-cultural and environmental) to the destination.
Sustainable Tourism: Sustainable Tourism leading to management of all resources in such a way those economic, social, and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity, and life support systems.
Marketing: Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
Carrying Capacity: The amount of visitor activity that a site or destination can sustain.
Tourism Impacts: Effects, which may be felt because of tourism-associated activity.
Tourism: Tourism, the act and process of spending time away from home in pursuit of recreation, relaxation, and pleasure, while making use of the commercial provision of services.