Nearly 19 lakh devotees have thronged the Ayodhya Ram Mandir since its opening on 22nd January. This was after the city recorded a footfall of 5 lakh visitors on 23rd January, when the doors of the temple were opened to the public.
On 22nd January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducted the Pran Pratishtha of Shri Ram Lalla and inaugurated the Ram Mandir in a grand ceremony which saw about 7,000 guests attending and Deepavali-like celebrations across the country and world over.
Exactly 18.75 lakh pilgrims have visited ever since. As per reports, daily visits have averaged over 2 lakh. It has been estimated that the holy city will see an annual footfall of about 5 crore pilgrims.
As per reports, due to all the construction activities in Ayodhya, the number of cement factories there will also increase.
According to this, religious tourism is still the largest source of tourism in India. The development of Ayodhya alone will make a big difference in India’s GDP.
It is reported that the contribution of the tourism sector to India’s GDP in the next 10 years (2033) will be 443 billion dollars (about ₹ 37 lakh crore).
It was 193 billion dollars (about ₹ 16 lakh crore) before the Corona period. In such a situation, there seems to be a possibility of considerable progress in the next ten years.
Efforts are also being made to ensure that the devotees coming to Ayodhya stay here and visit other places also. There are currently 17 hotels here and 73 more are to be built. Of these, construction work on about 40 is in progress. Big hotel chains of India have already made plans to come to Ayodhya and set up their hotels.