THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Considered as a most important pilgrimage site in the state, the iconic Guruvayur Sreekrishna Temple has been the prime attraction for the domestic tourists and devotees in and outside the state over the years where the occupancy rate of hotels and lodges is always 100 per cent almost round the year.
But, does the emergence of the Padmanabha temple in Thiruvananthapuram as the world's richest Hindu temple, which shot to international fame following the discovery of huge treasure in its subterranean vaults in 2011, pose any challenge to the Guruvayur Sreekrishna Temple in terms of popularity and tourist inflow? Certainly not, if one goes through the statistics of the Tourism Department which compiled the number of tourists visited the temple cities.
The Guruvayur temple has been witnessing a footfall around 23 lakhs pilgrims annually, whereas the footfall in the Padmanabha temple would come around just half of the Guruvayur even after the unearthing of the treasure trove.
But, the Padmanabha temple has been giving a tough competition to the Guruvayur in terms of growth rate in tourist arrivals in last few years if the statistics are any indication. For the first time in the recent history, Guruvayur, which used to be the prime destination of domestic tourists during the past few years, fell in prominence with the growth rate registering negative.
The pilgrim destination recorded a footfall of 21.38 lakh pilgrims in 2017, whereas the same was 23. 36 lakhs in 2016. In the meantime, increase in the flow of pilgrims to Padmanabhaswamy temple pushed up footfalls in Thiruvananthapuram city to 12.17 lakhs showing a growth of 18.63 per cent over 2016 and the growth rate is 47.04 per cent over the year 2013.
The domestic tourist arrival to Thiruvananthapuram city has also seen a rise of 23.73 per cent against the tourist inflow recorded during the corresponding period a year ago. Since the department stats is based on the night stay of tourists and pilgrims in temple cities, the actual number would be higher than this. But this is capable to tell the trend in the sector, said a senior officer in the tourism department.
V Ratheesan, executive officer, Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, who had earlier worked as the administrator of Guruvayur temple, said the tourist inflow to the Padmanabhaswamy temple, chiefly north Indian tourists, has steadily been rising ever since the treasures were discovered.
The tourist inflow to Thiruvananthapuram is seasonal and based on the vacation in North India. During a festival like Deepavali, Rama Navami or summer vacation, the weekend tourist flow to come around 25-30 k devotees. However, the Guruvayur temple is way ahead of Padmanabhaswamy temple in terms of total footfall and revenue.
When Padmanabhaswamy temple nets an average revenue of Rs 30 lakhs per month, the revenue in Guruvayur would come around anywhere between Rs 4-5 crore, chiefly from the offering. Guruvayur Devaswom chairman K B Mohandas said the temple has recently noted that there was a dip in hundi collection.
But the Devaswom was of the view that the drop in the collection was due to demonetization and its impact. He also said though the Devaswom has not been taking any headcount of pilgrims, it has not felt any major dip in pilgrim flow.
Though different avatar of Lord Vishnu is worshiped in both temples, the authorities are of the unanimous opinion that if the state government can come up with a project of keeping at least a small portion of the treasures found in the Padmanabha Temple in a museum in the temple with highest security measures, it would be game changer for the Kerala domestic tourism industry.