Ram Mandir, the newly-built temple to Lord Ram, a Hindu deity
Besides Agra, Ayodhya has emerged as a major tourist destination this year, thanks to Ram Mandir, the newly-built temple to Lord Ram, a Hindu deity in the city located in central Uttar Pradesh.
According to a report by the Department of Tourism of Uttar Pradesh, within six months of its inauguration in January, the temple has drawn over 110 million people, surpassing Varanasi, a key spiritual city in the country.
The report adds that till 2017, Ayodhya had attracted a modest 200,000 tourists per year. In 2022, as the temple was being built, the number of visitors jumped to over 20.3 million and by the end of 2023, and the count may have crossed the 30 million mark.
As per the data, Varanasi recorded approximately 66.1 million visitors, including about 134,000 international travellers. Besides Ayodhya and Varanasi, Allahabad or Prayagraj, Mathura and Agra also remained major attractions, drawing millions of tourists each. Overall, the state recorded 330 million Indian and international tourists in the first six months of the current year.
The boom in number of visitors to Ayodhya has also led to a rapid development in the hospitality sector of the city as a number of luxury as well as economy hotels have decided to open up. These include major hotel brands including Taj and Radisson Hotel Group lining up to build luxury hotels in the city.
Amid the rising popularity of Ayodhya as a hotspot for tourists, the state government is also reportedly looking at adding new attractions here, including the development of water sports and cruises on the Saryu River, on whose banks Ayodhya is located.