Impact of Religious Tourism on

Sacred Historic Towns in India

Mragank Gupta
2018MCO008

Abstract

"Religious tourism" is very contemporary word given by tourism industry to promote eco-
nomic benefits. It is considered more to be the commercialization of pilgrimage. Religious
tourism refers to contemporary patterns of tour to places of religious importance or pil-
grimage sites where visitors aim to fulfil religious enquires of exploration as well as recre-
ational needs of sightseeing and involving a change away from the regular environment.
Some of the predominant religious tourism destinations in India are Pushkar, Tirupathy,
Ajmer, Puri, Ujjain, Varanashi, Mathura, Nanded etc among others. These religious places
attract a huge amount of religious tourists from various parts of the country and abroad.
Due to its reverence, there is a rapid increase in the floating population which holds ac-
tivities of tourism during pilgrimages each year. This floating population is cyclic in nature
as it maximizes during certain festivals or certain time in year and rest at low volume. It has
a high potential to impact the built environment in various ways including development
pressure, rapid urbanization, carrying capacity issues, ignorance of heritage in these sites
due to the lack of effective development plan which provide development of infrastruc-
ture, direction to growth, conservation of heritage. These towns develop haphazardly
leading to damaging the heritage aspect of area. The aim of this paper is to understand
the impact of religious tourism on historic towns in India. This paper describe both posi-
tive and negetive impacts which is supported by different case studies of sacred historic
towns which is considered to be achieved under following objectives-
• To Understand the concept of religious tourism and pilgrimage in India.
• To understand the concept of sacred historic towns in India.
• To understand the current scenario of religious tourism in india.
• To analyze the impact of religious tourism on sacred historic towns in India.

Keywords: Religious Tourism, Pilgrimage, Sacred Historic towns, India.

Introduction

Mankind from time immemorial travels for different reasons like the search for food, medi-
cation, and knowledge, business etc. one of such travel is based on religious purpose.
History of religious tourism in India is from early period and could be old to much before
evolution of settlements and towns. It was in the form of explorer, mystics and sage who
wander on land to attain enlightenment and other spiritual and super natural purpose.
Religious tourism is mass tourism with the intention to visit places of worship, holy places
or shrines and also could be in searching the truth and puzzles in one's life or search for
knowledge. It has been attained to be one of the oldest form of tourism.1 Due to increase
in accessibility and availability of advance transportation system, Pilgrimage which con-
sidered as an epitome at an interface of of devotion, hardship, spirituality, travel and ex-
ploration is transforming into contemporary scenerio of religious tourism. The New age ver-
sion of the pilgrim area caters to the more modern scenario, displays more ‘tourism like’
characteristics including changing patterns of visits, limiting the engagement of tourists
with rituals, commercializing the organization typical to package tours and travel and a
particular way of marketing the destinations. Rishikesh and Haridwar are prime examples
of being marketed as, much more than just a pilgrim center or in a larger picture become
an entire tourist paradise with extended adventure sports. A large proportion of visitors to
sacred sites have an additional motive of getting away on holidays, letting go and now
visit sacred sites on holidays irrespective of the religious importance of time in performing
pilgrimage.2
Human habitation in form of town in India can be evidenced from Indus valley civilization.
The archaeological remains of town are material proof of it but we can also get an idea
of social organisation of human habitation from prehistoric times through the cluster oc-
currence of painted rock shelters. These cave dwellers gradually in time began building
homes and start settling in nearby areas. These cluster of houses eventually developed
into hamlets then further growth leads to formation of villages then Towns.3

Concept of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Religious tourism is that type of tourism, where individuals make visits to different sacred
places for religious purposes. It is generally defined as the form of tourism where people
travel for pilgrimage and spiritual purpose either individually or in a group of people. It
encompasses various types of travels driven by different religions and where the religious
site is the tourist destination.

Religion tourism and pilgrimage is primarily referred as the travel that happens outside the
regular environment for religious purposes, usually. In India funerals , wedding ceremonies
and other rituals and celebrations of various festivals has a very strong religious connota-
tion, then when travel on a religious basis is planned by the priests or religious leaders or
other individuals primarily in terms of these aspects, then it can also be regarded as reli-
gious tourism.

With elaborating Varanashi as an example, The idea of religious tourism can be highlight-
ed. The city being located on the banks of river Ganga has around 4000 temples, 3000
heritage sites and 84 ghats. The individuals either from this country or overseas have gen-
erated this perception that this holy river will wash off all your sins once you take a dip in
her water. One of the most common aspects of making visits to religious places is to pray,
as all individuals believe in the Almighty. In India, the religious places too have been built
with artistic and creative ways that they have attracted individuals. 4
1
Jan 2014, Cusack C. Norman A.
2
Oct 2013, Shinde K.
3
2013, Mishra O.P. Tiwari P., Rock art of S-Belt region.
4
Nov 2008, Tala M.L., Pandurean M.
Pilgrimage is said to be the traditional way of expressing religious worship and the oldest
form of tourism. Pilgrimage is one of the integral aspect of tourism industry. It involves a jour-
ney, by pilgrim, from place to place for spiritual significance. It act as an devotion because
of its long distance travel to a sacred place. Since the time of the ancient mythologies
up to the present, all the religions in the world have made hope concrete by proclaiming
to believers that a visit to a holy place would relieve all or some of their troubles, whether
spiritual or worldly. Visits to holy places for the sake of purification, redemption, fulfilment of
vows, healing, or something else are called pilgrimages.5

“Pilgrimage can be simply viewed as the travel with a religious experience.” It is easy to
characterize journey of religious tourism as all trips are toward religious sites. However, some
researchers referred pilgrims in a different sense. According to them, it is a journey with de-
fined holistic purpose. Pilgrims knows that their journey would be difficult with full of life long
challenges. Pilgrimage is not a Holiday, it is a life changing journey that pilgrim undertakes
during their significant period of life. Pilgrimage help in building new perception and deep-
er understanding to life, present blessing to people, provides healing environment. Simply
travelling to a sacred site is not adequate enough to identify the traveller as the pilgrim.
Ritual and austerity are always expected to involve to a greater or lesser degree.6

In contrast to religious tourism, the key feature of pilgrimage is from its incorporation con-
veying religious involvement into the journey. Under this perspective, motivations for pil-
grimage will differ from those of religious tourism. As characterized by their destination, it
is possible to distinguish between religious tourists and pilgrims by the way they behave ;
For example, People on a pilgrimage usually started chanting god’s name in musical tone
throughout their journey to enhance or maintain the aura of journey while tourist did not
do so. This thing is also done to keep the mind devoted to god and also to keep it isolated
from the distraction created by hardship of journey. A visit with devotional intention can be
considered as pilgrimage. Inferring in this sense that the pilgrimage cannot be just a simple
tourist trip or a curiosity stop to a sacred place. It also requires forms of devotion involved.
If we see religious tourism from traditional perception, it referred as challenging journey.
Only travel to sacred site cannot justify traveller as pilgrimage. The Early pilgrims had expe-
rienced hardship.

Perspective of Religious Tourism in India

Religious tourism has two distinct feature, one is faith – means the domestic tourist of spiritual
attainment and religious beliefs towards the deity or the religious spot. Second is the faith or
beliefs of foreign tourist. Here the foreign tourist means to those which do not have religious
connection to site. These are the individuals, who have different religious backgrounds and
belong to different regions or countries. For them, India is the destination with spiritual value
and religious character with a sense of novelty and respect. Foreigner experienced differ-
ent ethnical and moral values from their own place. In India, there is possession of religious
beliefs, faith in worshipping the deities and when one is dedicated towards the achieve-
ment of the desired goals and objectives, then they plan religious tourism. While planning
for a religious tour, they usually form a strong belief that all their problems would get solved,
they will be able to achieve their goals and promote well-being.

In India, there are numerous religious places all over the country. These places attracted
not only individuals from within the country but also many people from different corners
of world. Religious tourism can be divided into the following classifications, namely- faith-
based journey, leisure vacations, pilgrimages, conventions and monastery visit , rallies, reli-
gious tourist attractions and faith-based camps.7
5
Jan 2014, Cusack C. Norman A.
6
2016, Bozic S. Spasojevic B. Vujiciic M.D. Stamkovic I.
7
2012,Strategic Initiative and Government Advisory (SIGA) Team.
India is a secular country, where every individual has the right to practice the religion of his
or her own choice. The religious places are established in accordance to the religions within
the country. The major religions of the country are Hinduism, Sikhism, Christianity, Muslim,
Jainism, Buddhism, and Parsi. The Hindus make visits to the temples, Sikhs to the gurudwaras,
Christians to the churches, Muslims to the mosques, Jains have their temples, and Buddhists,
and Parsis make visits to religious places, based on their faith.8 In some cases, individuals
make visits to religious places of the foreign religion which they do not follow like if a hindu
family had planned a tour to Pushkar, they will also incorporate the visit to Ajmer Dargah
Sarif and famous jain temples there in their Tour plan.

CURRENT SCENARIO OF RELIGIOUS TOURISM IN INDIA

According to the National council for applied economic research (NCAER) Delhi,
Religious tourism is one of the emerging market of India with a report of 230 million tourist
trips undertaken by both urban and rural Indians shows that a larger portion of trip is from
religious tourism in India, out of other trips like trip to sea beaches, hill stations and trip to
metropolitan cities.

It is overserved that the trip taken to religious spot like Tripathi Balaji catches larger number
of tourist in comparison with Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and Pune. Almost 23 million people
have visited the temple town of Tirupati, Andra Pradesh annually to catch a glimpse of
Lord Balaji. Whereas, in the northern union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, almost 17.2 mil-
lion devotees in the name of Vaishnavi Devi trek to the uphill of 15km for their religious be-
liefs and to give respect to the female deity. 9

NO. OF DOMESTIC TOURISTS (IN MILLIONS) VISITS IN INDIA (2000-17)

Source: Market Research Division, Ministry of Tourism

The above graph shows the growth rate of domestic tourism in India in Last 17
years(2000-17). In the year 2016, 161.55 Crores people have undergone domestic tourism
with an increase of 12.8% annual growth.

8
2016, Bilim Y. Ozer O.
9
2014, NCEAR survey report.
Almost 83.6% of total Domestic
tourism was held in only these 10
states.

Top five States in list i.e. Tamil

Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka,
and Maharashtra respectively,
contribute to 63.2% of total do-
mestic tourism in India.

Source: Market Research Division, Ministry of Tourism

NO. OF FOREIGN TOURISTS (IN MILLIONS) VISITS IN INDIA (2000-17)

Source: Market Research Division, Ministry of Tourism

The above graph shows the

growth rate of Foreign Tourism
in India in Last 17 years(2000-17).
In the year 2017, 26.89M people
have visited India with an in-
crease of 8.8% annual growth.
Almost 87.6% of total Foreign
tourism was held in only these 10
states.
Top five States in list i.e. Maha-
rastra, Tamilnadu, Uttar Pradesh,
and Delhi respectively, contrib-
ute to 66.4% of total domestic
tourism in India.

Source: Market Research Division, Ministry of Tourism

ANALYSIS OF DOMESTIC TOURISM ON BASIS OF PURPOSE OF VISIT

As domestic tourism contribute to

more than 98% of total tourism in India.
hence it become very necessary to
understand it in detail.
Of all the domestic trips undertaken
in India, about 90 % are undertaken
within the same state. Hence, intra-
state movement is the main contribu-
tor to domestic tourism in India.

A On an average, at all India level,

contribution of social trips to total trips
works out to be 74 %. This is followed
by religious trips and medical trips
which account for 10 % and 6.2 % re-
spectively of the total overnight trips.

The states where significant proportion

of trips is religious trips are Maharash-
tra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar
Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Kerela,
Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttara-
khand.

Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and

Tamil Nadu together account for 44%
of total religious trips undertaken in the
country.

Source: NCAER computation using 65th round NSSSO data.

Top 10 states of destination for Religious trips

TRIP DURATION Source: NCAER computation using 65th round NSSSO data.

The average trip duration at All-India level is 3.4 nights. The longest trip duration is seen in
Lakshadeep, where tourists prefer to spend 5.4 night on an average followed by Chandi-
garh.
Peak season for tourism in a state is month in which average number of nights spent in that
state is highest. On an average, overnight tourists spend as many as 17 nights per trip un-
dertaken in Andaman & Nicobar Island that is, in June followed by 16nights in Arunachal
Pradesh in same month.
In Rajasthan, it's 3.84 on an average in the month of November, while Uttar Pradesh is low-
est with 3.38 nights per trip in the month of 3.38.
March is considered as lean season for domestic tourism with average trip duration at All-
India level is 2.91. Rajasthan express 2.58 nights of average trip duration in lean season
keeping the seasonal variation very low.
Source: NCAER computation using 65th round NSSSO data.

TRIP EXPENDITURE

The contribution of tourism industry in the economy of

different states can be measured by expenditure incurrd
during trips. The expenditure by tourists pertaining to a trip,
be it domestic or international, is likely to be very much
dependent on many factors such as; purpose of the visit,
socio-economic characteristics of the visitors, types of
tourism services availed during the trips (e.g. type of ac-
commodation – five star, three star etc.) and trip duration,
etc.
Total domestic tourism expenditure on business trips in
India was Rs. 4929 crore in 2008-09.

Source: NCAER computation using 65th round NSSSO data.

TRIP EXPENDITURE DURING RELIGIOUS TRIPS
Total domestic tourism
expenditure on religious
trips in India is estimated
at Rs. 11883 crore in 2008-
09.

At all India level, on an

average 76.4 % of the to-
tal domestic expenditure
incurred during religious
trips is attributed to pas-
senger transport services.

Expenditure under tour-

ism connected products
head has second high-
est share (9.9 %) in the
domestic tourism expen-
diture in case of religious
trips.

Shares of expenditure on
food & beverages, ac-
commodation services
and cultural, sports, reli-
gious & other recreation-
al services are 6.3 %, 3.1
% and 0.9 % respectively.

Expenditure on cultural,
sports, religious & other
recreational services
during religious trips con-
tributes less than 3 % for
33 states. This share is less
than 4 % for all the states.

Source: NCAER computation using 65th round NSSSO data.

Source: NCAER computation using 65th round NSSSO data.
Distribution Table of Tourism expenditure during Religious Trips

Source: NCAER computation using 65th round NSSSO data.

TOURISM RELATED NATIONAL SCHEMES IN INDIA

• Overseas Promotion and Publicity including Market Development Assistance.
• Assistance to IHMs/FCIs/IITTM/NCHMT .
• Domestic Promotion and Publicity including Hospitality.
• Assistance for Large Revenue Generating Projects.
• Incentives to Accommodation Infrastructure
• Assistance to Central Agencies for Infrastructure Development
• Market Research including 20 years Perspective plan
• Capital Outlay on Public Works (Bharat Paryatan Bhawan).
• Swadesh Darshan-Integrated Development of Tourist Circuits on Specific Themes.
• National Mission for Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive
(PRASAD)
Historic Towns and Urban Areas

According to the Washington Charter(1987) of ICOMOS, The Historic cities and towns are
old areas whether small or large including cities, town and centres either living or dead
and were created and developed by man gradually in time and shows an expression of
social diversity in history. They comprises built and natural environment and have been
expressing the living experiences of the dwellers. They have embodied the various values
of the traditional urban culture. (Charter, 1987)
Sacred Historic Towns In India

The every historic town emerge out either in the form religious or spiritual centre, politi-
cal centre, trade and commerce centre etc. The emergence of these town also varied
throughout the timeline. Indian sub-continent also became a testimony of evolution of
these centres from its emergence, once flourishing to its Zenith then degrading in igno-
rance and being dead to regeneration of the town though-out the historical timeline.
Since due to different reason of emergence resulting the manifestation of different phys-
ical attributes of spatial layout like hierarchy of streets, built fabric, visual linkages, relation-
ship with neighbourhood environment, for example The religious and spiritual towns are
a composition of urban space inside a concentric pattern of geometric shapes forming
patterns that will illustrate the abstraction of structures of the universe known as Mandala,
depicted in ancient literature of Indian traditional architecture. They also have higher
degree of axiality, alongside a corridor with regular settlement pattern focused around
Temple as core10 while the political centre developed as fortified town most probably on
hill side and the trade routes results in emergence and development of trade and com-
mercial town which comprises of grandeur Havelies of merchants along the route.

The Indian settlement patterns are overlays of the civilizations that belonged to various
different periods of historic rulers. Settlement pattern of India resembles diversity in culture,
shows different social groups. The architecture of these urban forms have had interesting
elements. It includes places of interest like palaces of traditional era, beautifully caved
traditional houses and many building with religious importance. Cities of different corners
of India laid different pattern of historic importance.

Towns of the medieval origin in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan gener-
ally have four features signifying their morphological character: the castle or fortress, the
temple, the tank or water bodies, and the wall enclosing the separate cells of communi-
ties of social hierarchical order, the lowest being at the fringe or even outside the wall.
Agra, Dhar, Sikri, Golconda, Bijapur, Pune, Delhi, Chittorgarh, Jaipur(Amer), Udaipur,
Ajmer, Aurangabad, etc. were some of the towns having medieval plan-based morphol-
ogy. Most of them now have a changed urban landscape because of the super- imposi-
tion of the post-independence development.

Medieval towns sought their sites invariably are present on high mounds or are present b
sides of isolated hills or are in a naturally fortified depression. Besides the advantage of the
natural defence, the availability of water is also responsible for their irregular morphology.
Some of the towns are squeezed between high mounds and water- bodies at least from
two sides. Their irregular, tortuous and narrow streets near the centre or core also have
distorted the shape or layout.

10
Oct 2013, Shinde K.
Impact of Religious Tourism

India have had the largest religious traffic than compared with the rest of the world. India
being home to a amalgamation of various religions and having a very large number of
various world famous religious sites and pilgrimage attractions. These religious destinations
have formed a large part of India's vibrant cultural heritage and are a major aspect of its
tourism, that contributes to it's social, cultural and economic development of a particu-
lar region or area by providing vast opportunities for employment to locals, Improvement
of infrastruture like road, water supply, electricity and bring out new projects for devel-
opment. It offers them motivation to learn and develop new skills11 Since these religious
centers are traditionally small-scale towns, religious tourism attracts its own pressure such
as- high stress over the infrastructure due to huge influx of the floating population, , di-
lapidating built heritage and urban space, water bodies, encroachment of the existing
resources, increasing traffic congestion, etc. The inner city's core starts to deteriorate to
severe pathetic conditions on deprived of the original character. As these sacred places
have to accommodate the floating population, more than its carrying capacity with no
special associated infrastructure and planning and for the additional frequent influx.12
Hence it is crucial to analyze the impact of the religious tourism on the historic towns and
its extent of issues and challenges emerging from it.

11
UKEssays. November 2018. Impact Of Religious Tourism On Locals In India Theology Religion
12
Oct 2013, Shinde K.
CASE STUDIES
PUSHKAR (RAJ.)
Pushkar is one of the most important religious
towns of India. The Brahma Mandir being the
most signifcant temple of the town (said to
be the first temple to be dedicated to Lord
Brahma). There are more than 400 historic
structures in and around the settlement with
the holy lake or sarovar in the centre and Ara-
vali Mountains on the sides forming a perfect
oasis.
Evolution of Pushkar Town View of Pushkar: The Sacred Historic Town. Source: Internet

Pre 4th Century BCE-

• Origin of Pushkar Sarovar, Brahma JI per-
formed yagna according to Vedas
• Apsara Menka came to Pushkar to bath in
its sacred Sarovar.
• Maharaja Yudhisthir bath in Pushkar Sarovar.
4th -2nd Century BCE-
• The stone inscriptions of the 2 century B.C. in
the Buddhists Stupa at Sanchi in Bhopal (Cen-
tra India), mentions the charitable donations
made by Bhikshus Arhadina, Nagarakshita,
Arya (venerable) Buddharakshitra, Himgiri, Pu-
sak and Isidata (a woman), all inhabitants of
Pushkar. This evidence the early human settle- Pushkar: Ground Zero. (Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.)
ment in Pushkar.
1st -12th Century CE-
• Pratihara rulers of Mandor had restored
Pushkar Tirtha in the 7th century, repairing the
ghats and restoring the sarovar by making
an embankment on the side by which water
flowed. They built twelve Dharamashalas and
Ghats on the three sides of the Pushkar sar-
ovar. To this day they are known as Pariharam
Ki Sala.
• The temple of Varah ji was built by King Ar-
noraja of Chauhan dynasty, and whoalso
built the Ana Sagar at Ajmer, and executed
repairs to the Pushkar Sarovar.
12th -20th Century CE-
• In 17th Century, The temple was pulled
down by Aurangzeb. he also broke an old
temple of Kesho Rain near Gau Ghat and
built a mosque in its place.
• Maharaja Jai Singh II. of Jaipur in 18th Cen-
tury CE appeared to rebuilt, the inscription Fig: Evolution of Town: Intensity of Color Red shows the age of
on the pedestal of the image shows that the structure i.e. darker in color more the age.
(Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.)
present image was installed in 1727 A.D
• Jahangir Mahal was built in 1670 AD to celebrate his victory over Maharaja Amar Singh
of Mewar. This structure was built with two identical pavilions of red sandstone standing on
a raised plinth.
Built Heritage of Pushkar

The historic city of Pushkar have abundance of heritage structures with different typologies
and significance. These structures and their setting in the urban settlement are play signifi-
cant role in testifying the morphology of town. According to IGNCA (Indira Gandhi National
Centre for the Arts) listing, there are 362 heritage building identified. INTACH have marked
15 heritage sites in Pushkar. There are two heritage sites marked by/ protected under the
Archeological Survey of India, namely Brahma Mandir and Jahangir Mahal.
However, according to the detailed survey conducted by the Shanrakshan consultants
team, there are as many as 402 heritage buildings identified in and around Pushkar.

Built Heritage attributes of Pushkar covers a wide range:

• Temples
• Streets
• House temple
• Ghats
• Dharamshalas
• Ashrams
• Water systems
• Havelis

Status of Religious Tourism in Pushkar

On an average around 30,000-50,000 thousand tourists visit the temple every

day, but during festivals Guru Purnima and Karthik Purnima, the number of devo-
tees coming to the temple reaches upto 1-2 lakhs. The tourist inflow of 9 years from
2005-2014 with bifurcation of domestic and foreign tourist is given in table below.

Tourists 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Domestic 1587300 1762700 1768240 1745040 1745040 1965380 2032020 2323050 2659720 3234750

Foreign 67290 73573 76959 86030 75155 79682 68891 70766 62353 70603

Total 1654590 1836270 1845190 1906120 1820190 2045060 2100911 2393810 2722070 3305350

2015 2016 2017 2018 Table: Past growth trends in tourist arrivals Pushkar
(Source: 20 Year Perspective Plan for Sustainable Tour-
3786360 3961130 4636005 4455340
ism in Rajasthan by Department of Tourism Ministry of
69494 97651 101673 109904 Tourism, Art and Culture- Government of India)

3855854 4058781 4737678 4565244

Inference from the above data

• 3 times growth if total tourist inflow in last 13 years (2005-2018) in town.

• 3 times growth of domestic tourists in town.
• 20% is the current growing rate of domestic tourism in town in last 4 years.
• 60% is the current growing rate of forign tourism in town in last 4 years.
Graph: Past growth trend in tourist arrivals, Pushkar (Source: 20 Year Perspective Plan for Sustainable
Tourism in Rajasthan by Department of Tourism Ministry of Tourism, Art and Culture- Government of India)

Overnight Tourists in Pushkar

The table shows the month wise overnight visit of tourist in the town.

Table: Past growth trend in tourist arrivals, Pushkar (Source: Collection of domestice tourist for state of Rajast-
han by Market research division, Ministry of Tourism, Art and Culture- Government of India)

Tourism infrastructure
There are 43 dharamshalas, 185 hotels, 39 ashrams, 37 guest house and 7 resorts available
in Pushkar which can accommodate 9730 person in it. During Cattle fair the number of
tourist visiting town is more than the town can accommodate. When there is lack in tourist
accommodation, residential houses acts as guest house.

A lot of new hotels, restaurants, and dharamshalas have shown up in last few years but
none of them is regularized. No rules and regulations is being followed by them.

Table: Types and number of accommodation (Source: Tourism Department, Rajasthan)

Analysis of existing Tourism Infrastructure with Tourism Inflow

As per available tourism data of month wise tourist inflow in town 2005-06.

The Overnight Domestic tourists inflow annually was - 168565

Out of which,
Maximum overnight tourist were in month of October i.e. - 46245 which is approx. 1/3rd of
the total domestic tourist visits annually.

=> If we further distribute these no. in the same pattern in days i.e. 1/3rd of 46245 will visit at
same time,
we get a maximum overnight tourism inflow of 15415 of domestic tourism.

Same in Foreign Tourism inflow in month of October,

Total OvernightForeign tourism inlfow annually was - 67290
In month of October,It is 6309 i.e. approx. 1/10th of the annual overnight forign
tourists inflow.

=> If we further distribute these no. in same pattern in days i.e. 1/10th of 6309 will visit at
same time,
we get a maximum overnight foreign tourist inflow of 630 at same time.

Thus, Total maximum Tourism inflow could be approx. 16046 at same time in year
2005-06. which is 60% more than the available tourists accomodation infrastructure in town.

This no. is also equivalent to the estimated average existing population of town which was
18208 (approx.)1

Impact of Religious Tourism on Historic Town of Pushkar

Development and Land Use

The Table shows the deviation in land use from 1991 to 2011. The table shows in 1991, 32
acres of commercial land use is being proposed for development which reached to 105
acres in 2011( 3 times the proposed area) while the residential area had been reduced to
196 acre from 273 acres proposed in 2011 master plan.

Population in 2001 was 14791 (Census of India)

1

Population in 2011 was 21626 (Census of India)

 (Source: Devsthan Dept.,
Govt. of Raj.)

Map: Generalized existing land use- 2011 (Source: Pushkar Master Plan 2011-2031)
The Deviation in land use in land development from proposed use shows the effect of De-
velopment Pressure generated by religious tourism. Most of the existing residential land use
is being converted to commercial land use and mixed land use in historic core. Most of the
buildings in these areas have commercial activity like shops or restaurant on the ground
floor and residences on the floors above. Also some buildings in the old area have been
converted into guest houses or home stays and low budget hotels due to increasing de-
mand of affordable accommodation for the tourist visiting Pushkar. These buildings have
tourist accommodation in some part of the property and residence in the rest of it. Also, a
few large hotels have come up between the dense residential settlements of the town.
Impact on Urban characteristics of Town

The city of Pushkar, said to be one of oldest

settlements on earth, has gone through various
ages and layers of modifications according to
people, relevant rulers and cultural changes.
This process of modification in the living and
settings can be seen through the multiple lay-
ers of architectural styles and urban character-
istics in the city. The old structures/ houses of the
city exhibit similar architectural styles, heights,
enclosure, and planning.

The mohallas also exhibit similar structuring with

irregular patterns resulting in a dense and hap-
hazard type urban grain of the city. The narrow
streets with closely spaced houses have also
been planned according to the climate of the
area to allow self shading and create cooler
areas. This is also one of the main reasons for
the fine grain of the old areas. The conversion
of old structures into hotels, guest houses and
dharamshalas require some changes and ad-
ditions and alteration in the buildings, which
has led to further congestion of already dense Fig: Image showing new addition being done to
areas. This conversion has also altered the heri- old structure.
tage fabric of the city to large extent. (Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.)
• There is a lack of building guidelines in the town which has resulted in unregulated devel-
opment in and around heritage or historic fabric of the settlement. The unplanned growth
between old structures and addition and alterations to historic buildings has led to deterio-
ration of historic architectural fabric and planning.

• The lack of height regulations in the town has resulted in various inappropriate and un-
regulated construction of new structures of more than 2 storey as well as addition of ad-
ditional floors above old historic structures. This is a major issue of the town as it affects the
original skyline of the town.

• The unregulated conservation of ghats and historic buildings is resulting in further deterio-
ration of the heritage structures.

Deteriorating condition of Baradari structure. Incongruous alteration to existing historic structure near
(Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.) temple building.
(Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.)

Image: View of the bazaar street with encroachments and stalls at the entrance of Brahma temple
(Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.)
Excessive Population Growth

Unlike other towns, population of Pushkar in the last five decades has grown very slowly
from 5934 in 1951 to 14789 in 2001. This population growth of the town is largely due to natu-
ral growth, as there isn’t any major economic activity to boost migration.

But, The population grew rapidly from 2001 to 2011, which is primarily because of the sta-
bility of economic condition of the people of Pushkar due to the rise in tourist inflow to the
town.

Table 1.2: Growth of Population

(Source: census 1951-2011)

In the decade of 2001-2011, there is an excessive growth in population has been evidenced
which is 30% more than the estimated population growth in 2001 census. This testify the de-
velopment pressure occur on town.
Impacts on Physical Infrastructure of Town

• Depletion of Natural water system

The stage of development clearly indicates that the
area falls under Dark Zone. The ground water re-
serve is depleting at alarming rate. Over exploitation
of ground water due to construction of water tube
wells. With modernization, the use of traditional water
systems (wells and baolis) have been discontinued.
These were important part of the water harvesting
system and its discontinuity has lead to decrease in Fig: Dried Well with visible crack on wall
ground water recharge leading to depleted water (Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.)
table in the town.

• Drainage
Rain water is a crucial part of the water recharg-
ing the ground water table. However, it is not be-
ing utilized for the purpose. In the present scenar-
io the storm water mixes with the sewerage water
which results in flooding of main bazaar street
and this untreated sewerage water along with
rain water enters the Sarovar.

Fig: Water loging in main market area.

(Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.)
• Solid Waste Management
Due to improper implementation of
solid waste disposal, waste is being
disposed off on the streets and near-
by open areas which include surface
water body. This has led to unhygienic
conditions in the town and ill presenta-
tion of temple town to the visitors. No
proper Land fill site is allocated for the
garbage disposal.

Fig: Image showing waste deposited around Puran Kund.

• Transportation (Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.)

Lack of organized parking facility, it is

leading to roadside parking and con-
gestion along the streets. Motorized
vehicular traffic on streets causes con-
gestion and pollution, and conflicts
with pedestrian movement in the town.
There is no proper segregation of pe-
destrian and vehicular movement.

Fig: Unorganized 2 wheeler parking on the main bazaar

street at Brahma chowk
(Source: Devsthan Dept., Govt. of Raj.)
Conclusion

The Traditional form of pillgrimage, which is considered to be an epitome at an interface

of devotion, hardship, spirituality, travell and exploration is converting into idea of reli-
gious tourism in contemporary scenario due to increase in assecibilty and availability
of advance transportation system. These activities at religious sites are seems to be
uniformly distribute throughout the time with profound maximas that were noticed during
special occassions of festivals andfairs such as Rath Yatra in Puri, Diwali in Ayodhya, Holi in
Braj, Kartik Month in Pushkar etc.

The economic opportunities raised in result of invicible religious tourism will unavoidable
rapid urbanization of place or town and its immediate surroundings. Hence, It highlights
the importance of urban conservation.

The major impacts emerge out of study are-

Excessive population growth that exceeds the expected number.

Change in urban characterstics of town including dilapidating built heritage, new con-
struction over existing historic fabric or destroying it. Unregulated alteration or additions to
old fabric for reuse leads to more congestion in urban fabric. Construction of multistorey
structure leads to disturb the existing skyline of town

Deviation from proposed landuse and older landuse.

Excessive pressure on other physical infrastructure including water system, waste man-
agement, transportation parking traffic congestion and pedesterian movement etc.

Beyond these physical impacts, Religious tourism also exert impacts on socio- cultural attri-
bute of place. Positively on one hand, It plays important role in establishing and popular-
izing cultural identity of place. This further act as catalyst in increasing tourist inflow in town
and so on.

But on other end, It will exert some negative impacts on social and cultural structure of
town. Like, Young boys and girls now imitate the dressing, style of conversation, fashion
etc. of the tourists. Most of the restaurants serve foreign food due to large demand of
tourists. Some people also engaged in the business of marijuana and other ecstasy drugs,
paid sex were also noticed in tourist town.This is mainly because of invasion of foreign cul-
tures regularly throughout the time and hence result into evolution of new mixed culture
that will be more global, secular and indifference able.
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