LUCKNOW: The inauguration of Ram Mandir and the metamorphosis of the sleepy, non-descript temple town into a throbbing ‘Navya Ayodhya’ have opened doors not only for the tourism industry but also for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) which has logged Rs 1 lakh crore business till January end.
Industry leaders believe it to be just the beginning.
Ten days after the Pran-Pratishtha, Ayodhya have witnessed daily footfall of devotees in lakhs, making the prospects of tourism industry going to the moon. On the same tangent, the consecration has ushered MSMEs, directly related to the temple, into a new era of economic prosperity reflecting an extraordinary upsurge in trade of goods related to puja, logging Rs 55000 crore trade from January 1-January 26 and touching the trade figure of Rs 1 lakh crore by January end.
Ayodhya is set for a vibrant industrial activity as hospitality sector has been thronging the temple town with a number of star hotels and resorts lined up for near future.
After the consecration, devotes from across the country are coming into Ayodhya in large numbers. As per the figures of the district administration, around two-three lakh devotees are taking darshan of Ram Lalla daily despite all the restrictions in force for crowd management.
The number of devotees is likely to soar to 4-5 lakh daily with the let-up in weather conditions and sweeping cold wave.
However, to cater to such a large number of visitors, the temple town is gearing up with a chain of hotels and resorts. Some projects are already taking shape on the ground while others are in the pipeline.
According to sources, the state tourism department has set a target of bringing around 145 hotels, resorts and guest houses to Ayodhya by the end of this year.
All these projects will be performing ‘Bhoomi-pujan’ (ground breaking) in February as the modalities including the land acquisition for such projects have been completed, said the sources.
These hospitality projects worth Rs 3500 crore and comprising 7500 rooms, will be equipped with upmarket five-star facilities. The construction of those facilities will create at least 10,000 jobs, says the tourism department sources.
“In the wake of the rising graph of spiritual and religious tourism in the state especially after the inauguration of Ram temple, the state government is encouraging players of the hospitality industry to set up units in the districts adjoining Ayodhya to maximize facilities for the devotees and tourists as their number is likely to increase in the days to come,” said UP Tourism Minister Jaiveer Singh.
The minister claims that in 2023, Ayodhya got 5.76 crore devotees and Kashi Vishwanath Dham got 8.55 crore devotees. Till the consecration ceremony, around 700 registered home-stays were already there in the temple town and the number has gone up by 441, after the approval by district administration during the last 10 days.
Multinational hospitality chain Oyo has also started its services in Ayodhya.
Meanwhile, as per the figures provided by a recent report of Forum for Internet Retailers, Sellers & Traders (FIRST), Ram Mandir has proved to be trade multiplier pushing the temple related MSMEs to log an additional business of over Rs 55000 crore from January 1 to January 26, this year with projections of touching Rs 90,000 crore by January end.
The report also tracked the migration of over 170 artisans engaged in the manufacturing of Puja related goods, and 6000 plus MSMEs in retail, manufacturing and services to the temple town from other cities. Majority of those migrants are Ayodhya natives who have returned to their roots.
The report claims that there has been an increased online demand for products including Ram temple miniatures, lanterns, puja samagri, idols, stoles, scarves, shawls, diyas, flags besides the flowers, bhog and prasad, not only in India but also from across the globe.