Oyo, a global hotel technology startup, said on Thursday that it would open 50 facilities in Ayodhya by 2023.
About 25 of these will be homestays maintained by homeowners, while the other 25 will be small and medium hotels with 10 to 20 rooms apiece. The firm said that it is ‘actively assisted’ by the Ayodhya Development Authority and the Uttar Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation in launching these properties on schedule.
According to Oyo statistics from January to September 2022, the income of hotels onboarded on the Oyo platform more than quadrupled within three months as compared to independent budget hotels of comparable size. Tourist visits in Ayodhya have been steadily increasing in recent years as the city’s infrastructure has been revitalized and highway and road connectivity has improved, according to the firm.
In 2017, roughly 1.5 crore visitors visited Ayodhya, and approximately 2 crores will come in 2019. The figure fell during the pandemic years, but it rose again in 2022 when over 2.20 crore visitors visited the spiritual city. The government anticipates that after the Ram Temple building and development work is done, Ayodhya tourism would grow tenfold by 2024.
It is investing roughly Rs 30,000 crore to convert Ayodhya into a spiritual destination with worldwide appeal. Anuj Tejpal, Oyo’s chief commercial officer, said that the business has developed a ‘strong’ development strategy for Ayodhya after many rounds of consultations with the government to grasp their core needs and concerns.
“We are encouraged by the Ayodhya Development Authority and the UP Tourism Department’s prompt action and encouragement.” They are adamant that we support the establishment of well-managed homestays to offer an extra source of income for local inhabitants. “We’ve already started onboarding homestays,” he added.
“Ayodhya is the top spiritual city in our plans of expanding Oyo footprints across major religious corridors in India,” he said.
The Uttar Pradesh government is also attempting to preserve and restore Ayodhya’s historic monuments. This involves the restoration of Ram Katha Park, a key pilgrimage destination, as well as the creation of a Ramayana Museum.
Oyo said that it is placing a large stake in holy corridors such as Ayodhya to promote its development goals in India in 2023. According to the company’s “Cultural Travel 2022 Round-up” study, spiritual travel is a crucial contributor to India’s domestic travel revival.
Oyo cited the Good Friday holiday weekend as a recent example of this enthusiasm for spiritual travel. According to trends, Varanasi is the most popular pilgrimage destination, followed by Puri, Shirdi, Amritsar, and Haridwar. Tirupati, Mathura, Vrindavan, Guruvayur, and Madurai, in addition to these cities, experienced a considerable increase in booking demand.
