The number of visitors to Kedarnath Mandir is poised to reach 10 lakh this year. Previous highest record for number of pilgrims is 5.83 lakh in 2012. “Never before have so many pilgrims come to Kedarnath. We expect 10 lakh pilgrims here by the time the temple closes for this year in end of October. The attention that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought to Kedarnath post the 2013 floods has increased the faith of people in the shrine,” said N.P. Jamloki, the Publicity Officer of Shri Badrinath-Kedarnath Temples Committee. The number of visitors was dropped to 40,832 in 2014 due to 2013 Uttarakhand floods. But the efforts by prime minister have restored the people’s faith in the shrine since then.
Kedarnath Mandir is one of 12 Jyotirlinga which represents a devotional representation of Bhagvan Shiv. PM Modi has previously visited Kedarnath in 2017 in the month of October. “Uttarakhand will end up being the most-loved hill state. Will develop Kedarnath and take it back to its days of glory,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his last visit. This time also he is expected to visit Kedarnath by the end of October when temple closes for rest of the year. The roads of Kedarnathand Badrinath have been closed for last few days but there are lakhs of booking for the next two months. So, when the weather will be clear, plenty of visitors will arrive. The state and central government has made coordinated efforts to improve infrastructure after the floods and this resulted in increase in the number of visitors. “Lots of improvements have been done at Kedarnath over the last two years – like the pedestrian path being widened to almost 50 feet at many places, facilities of lodging and boarding and refreshments on the way to the shrine. All this has been closely monitored by the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister,” Jamloki said.
PM Modi has expressed faith that number of visitors could reach 10 lakhs by next year during his last visit. “Pilgrim numbers decreased after the 2013 tragedy as people were skeptical if proper infrastructure existed here. Over 4.5 lakh pilgrims visited Kedarnath Mandir this year. Next year it will at least be 10 lakh. My visit has sent this message,” PM Modi had said back then. Nearly 7 lakh pilgrims have visited Kedarnath Mandir and over 8 lakh have visited Badrinath so far this year and in remaining two months the figure is expected to breach 10 lakh mark.
Religious tourism is one of the most popular forms of tourism in the country, as thousands of pilgrims visit the shrine of Vaishno Devi in Jammu every year. The Amarnath Yatra is made by millions of people every year despite all the hurdles they face on the way. Only some places like Taj Mahal or Gateway of India are the limelight of the tourism industry. There are a vast numbers of unexplored sites of historical and religious value that are rotting in ignorance because there is a lack of infrastructure to reach these destinations, while no marketing efforts are made to popularize them. India has 36 World Heritage Sites that are recognized by UNESCO as of August 2017. These are places of cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972. The Tourism sector generated US$230 billion or 9.4% of the nation’s GDP in 2017 and supported 41.622 million jobs, which amounts to around 8% of its total employment. The major problems faced by Indian tourism are the low level of formalization within industry and a lack of ATM penetration among other things. PM Modi led government is very serious about developing India as a major tourist destination in the world, and the upcoming years will see the creation of many jobs in the industry. According to the World Tourism Ranking, India received 14.6 million international tourists in 2016, which is way below its true potential. France, a small country in southern Europe, bags 82.6 million international tourists annually, almost 6 times more than that of India.