Ayodhya Ram Mandir To Drive UP Tourism To New Heights, Tourists Likely To Spend Rs 4 Lakh Crore In The State This Year: SBI Research

Uttar Pradesh's economy is set for an enormous boost with the massive influx of visitors after 'pran pratishtha' of Ramlalla at Ayodhya temple.

A recent paper by SBI Research has claimed that owing to the Ram temple and other tourism-centric initiatives, UP could see tax collections of as much as Rs 25,000 crore in 2024-25.

"The completion of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and multiple initiatives taken by UP government to promote tourism could result in an additional tax revenue of up to Rs 25,000 crore per annum due to spurt in tourists in FY2," the SBI research said in its report.

The report added that Ayodhya will be the most important factor and with the anticipated growth in tourism, UP could become richer by about Rs 4 lakh crore this year.

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"Given the completion of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya this year and a melange of initiatives taken by the UP government to promote tourism, we believe that the total expenditure by tourists (domestic + foreign) in UP may cross Rs 4 lakh crore mark by end of this year," it said.

"With holiest places/shrines of worship dotting the vast landscape, UP has seen domestic tourism increasing at a breath neck pace…Estimates by state government put the number of tourists visiting the state at around 32 crore in 2022 (around 2.21 crore footfall in Ayodhya alone) with their expenditure exceeding Rs 2 lakh crore," the report said.

"Additionally, spending by foreign tourists (the state ranked 5 th in number of foreign tourists visiting India) was around Rs 10,500 crore….the state seems poised to reap the benefits from the tourism boom," it added.

This comes as foreign market research firm Jefferies has said that Ayodhya will surpass Vatican City and Mecca in terms of the number of visitors.

With over $10 billion invested in infrastructure projects, including new airports and improved roads, Ayodhya is set to welcome 50 to 100 million visitors annually, according to a report by Jefferies, Livemint reported.

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