24 S Vijay Anand Tourism

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International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Vol.2 Issue 1, January 2012, ISSN 2231 5780
SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS IN PILGRIMAGE TOURISM

S.VIJAYANAND*
*Ph.D Scholar, Department of tourism studies, School of Management, Pondicherry university, Kalapet, Pondicherry 605014.
ABSTRACT Pilgrimage, whether religious or secular, is experiencing resurgence around the world. This includes the motives for pilgrimage, activities during the pilgrimage, and the influence of tourism on it.The findings show that the visitor population ranged widely from very religious orthodox pilgrims, through "traditional" pilgrim-tourists to secular tourists. The features of present-day pilgrims can be represented on a scale that may be described as secular versus spiritual, and tourism versus pilgrimage. This typology also offers a model for the development of the pilgrimage sites. The findings highlight the increasing convergence of old-fashioned pilgrimage and current tourism, which have much in common. Additionally, this research emphasizes the expanding nexus of holy sites, society, politics, ideology, and culture.This article explains and supports the idea that the economic impacts of religious tourism should not be neglected or underestimated, although religious institutions have traditionally attempted to downplay this in the past. Additionally, the paper argues that religion and tourism have much in common. In the modern world it is hard to ignore the impression that in most places of pilgrimage the profane impacts of tourism are just as important if not more so than the religious. This paper lends theoretical support to this argument. KEYWORDS: religious tourism, economic impacts, pilgrimages. ______________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Businesses and public organizations are increasingly interested in the economic impacts of tourism at national, state, and local levels. One regularly hears claims that tourism supports X jobs in an area or that a festival or special event generated Y million dollars in sales or income in a community. Multiplier effects are often cited to capture secondary effects of tourism spending and show the wide range of sectors in a community that may benefit from tourism.Tourisms economic benefits are touted by the industry for a variety of reasons. Claims of tourisms economic significance give the industry greater respect among the business community, public officials, and the public in general. This often translates into decisions or public policies that are favorable to tourism. Community support is important for tourism, as it is an activity that affects the entire community. Tourism businesses depend extensively on each other as well as on other businesses, government and residents of the local community.Economic benefits and costs of tourism reach virtually everyone in the region in one way or another. Economic impact analyses provide tangible estimates of these economic interdependencies and a better understanding of the role and importance of tourism in a regions economy.Tourism
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activity also involves economic costs, including the direct costs incurred by tourism businesses,government costs for infrastructure to better serve tourists, as well as congestion and related costs borne by individuals in the community. Community decisions over tourism often involve debates between industry proponents touting tourisms economic impacts (benefits) and detractors emphasizing tourisms costs. Sound decisions rest on a balanced and objective assessment of both benefits and costs and an understanding of who benefits from tourism and who pays for it.Tourisms economic impacts are therefore an important consideration in state, regional and community planning and economic development. Economic impacts are also important factors in marketing and management decisions. Communities therefore need to understand the relative importance of tourism to their region, including tourisms contribution to economic activity in the area. A variety of methods, ranging from pure guesswork to complex mathematical models, are used to estimate tourisms economic impacts. Studies vary extensively in quality and accuracy, as well as which aspects of tourism are included. Technical reports often are filled with economic terms and methods that non-economists do not understand. On the other hand, media coverage of these studies tend to oversimplify and frequently misinterpret the results, leaving decision makers and the general public with a sometimes distorted and incomplete understanding of tourisms economic effects.How can the average person understand these studies sufficiently to separate good studies from bad ones and make informed choices? The purpose of this bulletin is to present a systematic introduction to economic impact concepts and methods. The presentation is written for tourism industry analysts and public officials, who would like to better understand, evaluate, or possibly conduct an economic impact assessment. The bulletin is organized around ten basic questions that either are asked or should be asked about the economic impacts of tourism. OBJECTIVES 1, To identify the economic impacts of the pilgrimage tourism. 2,To identify the socio,cultural,economic impacts of the pilgrimage tourism 3, To identify the Positive impacts, Multiplier effect, Negative impacts in tourism 4,To identify the Economic dimensions in pilgrimage tourism.
pilgrimage
METHODOLOGY The data for this study were collected from local residents which engaged in tourism activities. tourists were identified as a key factor in developing tourism in local communities. This research is mainly based on secondary data such as broucher,pamplets,books,news papers,internet,advertisement etc. REVIEW OF LITEREATURE Das gupta (2006) pilgrimage tourism plays a great role towards socio-economic changes.according to Indian sentiment the pilgrim centres or tirthasthan used to visit by number
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of tourists to earn virtue. one of such centre where taking holy dip.during maker sankranti,thought as in life of a person earns that much of virtue which one can earn by visiting all the pilgrimage centres throughout the life. the pilgrimage tourism is a vital and living experience in pilgrimage sites have also become important destinations,because they are closely linked with the cultural identity and heritage of a destinations where also pleasure components are being added to the familiar pilgrim routes and itineraries.thus due to continuous flow of pilgrims and tourists at this land,the socio-economic life of the islanders are evident.there fore,it can be said that pilgrimage tourism has opened several sources of cash earning and as a result several new occupations have emerded due to pilgrimage tourism.Shakiry (2001) the value of pilgrimage tourism in Islamic countries,.pilgrimage tourism reveals many perspectives in culture and economy.exploring and developing religious land marks and facilities would lead to the rise of pilgrimage tourism in Islamic countries. Pilgrimage tourism reveals many perspectives in culture and economy.exporing and developing religious land marks and facilities would lead to the rise of pilgrimage tourism in Islamic countries. this issue address governments whose concern it is to boost pilgrimage cultural and other types of tourism.they have to start internally by;protecting the environment and beautifying the areas in the immediate vicinity of pilgrimage sites as well as providing these areas with the necessary services, including constructing ways to facilitate them.LAUKUSH MISHRA (2000) pilgrimage tourism is being recognized as a prime industry in most parts of the world.for the purpose of earning maximum foreign exchange.social significance of pilgrimage tourism cannot be said of less important.tourism industry requires variety as it is very essential capital and India is land of diversity.here diversity is present in every walk of life,from natural such as air,and water to social factors such as language and behaviour all varies from place to place.pilgrimage tourism,pilgrimages are not a destination only for our religious faith but they also strengthen our national unity and promote bortherhoodness also.the time has to come when these should be used to earn foreign exchange also keeping guarded our cultural heritage.in fact the other part of world may learn many things from India.indians might be poor from pocket but the wealth what they have in their behaviour is match less in the world.on domestic front religious tourism can be very helpful for regional development,employment generation,and can enroot again the cultural values.many modern social evils which are caused by materialism can be cured with the help of religious tourism. Orland (1990) the pilgrimage tourism sites in developing countries are subjected to extraordinary economic pressures and change. Often being the only remaining open spaces in densely populated urban or rural agricultural landscapes, they are in danger of being over run, either by surrounding development, or by growing recreational uses.a site faces pressures from pilgrims, international tourists and local day-visitors, all with different goals and needs. There are two apparently conflicting goals: to increase international pilgrimages and tourism use of the site, and to enhance the site for local day-visitors. Strategies are presented which would reduce these present conflicts, allow for growth and respond to local management constraints. Mc grath (1999) The importance of pilgrimage travel as an economic, social and spatial phenomenon cannot be ignored. The term "pilgrimagetourism' implies travel to a site or worship or a sacred place; conceptually it is not unlike recreational or tourism movements as a form of short term migration.,it is one of the most geographically significant forms of religious behaviour..
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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF RELIGIOUS TOURISM IN INDIA India is a land of pilgrimage. Travel for religious purposes has been there from the most ancient times. Practically, all religions Hindu, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism have their major and minor pilgrimage centres in different parts of the country. There are also centres of Sufism, churches and mosques that are visited by people. In fact, to a majority of domestic tourists in India pilgrimage has always been the main motivation. In our country all major temples, shrines and sacred spots are found scattered all along major riverbanks or in the hills. The confluence of holy rivers called Sangam, attract millions of tourists every year when pilgrims assemble there to take holy dip in these rivers. For example on the day of Sankranti a bath in holy Ganga water is believed to relieve a person of all the sins. Another dimension added to it is that an effort to unify the country Adi Shankaracharya established four peeth (centres) in the four corners of the country. They are Badrinath in North, Kanchipuram in South, Dwarkapuri in West and Jagannath Puri in East. To add to this Sringerimutt in Karnataka state is also claimed to be the sacred peeth. The Indian pilgrims travel to the holy temples, the Indian holy space called Teerth which contain the meaning of to cross. It is a clear indication that in Indian holy space something is being crossed over. Within the holy space human beings are given the chance to transcend themselves when they come face to face, in contemplation, with the divinity. The pilgrimage, instead of diminishing in our apparently ever more secular, scientific and technologically oriented world, is experiencing considerable growth. This is primarily because in religious life of an average Indian, even rivers have played a decisive role. The rivers from time immemorial have been the symbol of purity to humans. Among these rivers the Ganga is believed to be the most sacred for all Hindus. Innumerable holy shrines like Gaumukh, Gangotri, Devprayag, Rishikesh, Hardwar, Garmukteshwar, Kannauj, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna and Gangasagar have come up on her banks through ages. These holy shrines attract millions of domestic pilgrims every year. On the other hand, river Yamuna is considered to be most meritorious to perform Gayatri Jap, worship of Keshav, Shiv or the Sun. The month of Kartik is pious for taking bath in Yamuna at Mathura. Traditions believe that Godavari before dividing itself into seven branches and meeting the sea, is most sacred for bath referred to as Sapta Sagar Yatra. Besides rivers, sacred shrines have been visited extensively by domestic tourists all along the periods. The twelve Jyotirlingas, five Bhutalingas and many other temples enshrining Lingas in their sanctorum are the ideal terminal destinations of domestic tourists since the time of great epics. The Jyotirlingas are at Kedarmath (Uttaranchal), Kashi Vishwanath (Uttar Pradesh), Somnath (Gujarat), Baijnath (Karnataka), Rameshwaram (Tamil Nadu), Ghushneshwar (Maharashtra), Bhimashankar (Maharashtra), Mahakaleshwar (Madhya Pradesh), Mallikarjuna (Andhra Pradesh), Omkareshwar (Madhya Pradesh), Nageshwar (Gujarat) and Tryambakeshwar (Maharashtra). The Bhutalingas are at Kalahastishwar (Vayulinga) at Kalahasti; Jambukeshwar (Appulinga) at Trichy; Arunachaleshwar (Bhatalinga) at Thriuvannamalai; Ekambareshwar (Prithvilinga) at Kanchipuram and Chidambareshwar (Akaslinga) at Chidambaram. In addition to also holy rivers and sacred shrines situated on the banks of these rivers, Shakti is also worshipped as the Divine mother, a creative power both as an enforcing discipline and for securing righteousness. There are nearly fifty-one shakti peethas all over the country. These peethas are visited by tourists throughout the year. Thus, the religious tourism is a mixture of both ancient and modern cultures, i.e., from the exodus of the past to the present day where
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religious tourism has become a mainstay of tourism. India is a country abounding in not only Hindu shrines but she also represents manifestations of elevating and inspiring works of Jain Tirthankars at Sravasti, Kaushambi, Hastinapur, Parasnath hills, Rajgiris, Khandgiri, Udaigiri, Khajuraho and Dilwara Temples at Mount Abu. Islami (Sufis) shrines as centres of religious influence at Ajmer (Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti), Gulbarga (Khwaja Bande Nawaj); Faridkot; Delhi (Sheikh Nizammudin Aulia); and Panipat (Shah Sharaf Bin Ali). Sikh religion though believed that real pilgrimage is inward yet their sacred shrines are located at Garhwal (Hemkund Sahib); Amritsar (Golden Temple); Taran Taaran (Anandpur Sahib), Kartarpur and Patna Sahib; Churches in Goa. At many of these centres festivals and fairs are also held. SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS IN PILGRIMAGE TOURISM Most studies that measured specifically the impacts of pilgrimage tourism agree that sacred destinations are strongly affected by the stream of pilgrimage tourists visiting them (CollinsKreiner et al., 2006; Rinschede, 1992; Vukonic, 1996; Din, 1989; Walpole and Goodwin,2000). Shinde (2003) proposes a model of the dynamics of pilgrimage tourism, which allows us to further understand the interaction between pilgrimage tourists and host community and the associated impacts. As depicted there is both an immediate impact on the hosts environment due to the direct contact of the visitors with the religious institutions, and also an indirect impact on the local economy and the society. First and most obvious impact of pilgrimage tourism is through the visits to the religious site and the visitors contact with the religious institutions. However, apart from the religious institutions, holy sites are often surrounded by religiously orientated businesses and facilities, such as souvenir shops, travel agencies, hotels and even hospitals, providing employment for the host community (Evans, 1998). In particular, the sale of religious souvenir items, for example sacred water (Maseeh, 2002), icons and candles (Evans, 1998) or other religious things (Dubish, 1995) brings in considerable revenue, as is the case in Assisi in Italy and Lourdes in France (Fleischer, 2000).According to Secall (2003), this material perspective of interest brought about by pilgrimages has always been present in human history. As such, religious tourism can have similar economic impact as we see in other forms of tourism such as job creation, population growth and infrastructuredevelopment. The Catholic pilgrimage site Lourdes is a good example of how pilgrimage tourism can affect a destinations population growth. Lourdes, which currently receives some 6 million pilgrims per year from 140 different countries, (Lourdes, 2007) has been experiencing a constant population growth since its beginning as a pilgrimage site in 1858. This is in contrast to other cities at the edge of the Pyrenees and is attributable to the arrival of people from the surrounding area for job opportunities provided by the pilgrimage (Rinschede, 1992). Czestochowa in Poland, a town with a population of 250,000 attracts some 4.5 million pilgrims per year (Czestochowa, 2008; Gray, 2008) saw improving its infrastructure as a result of being a pilgrimage site (Jackowski and Smith, 1992).Some religious sites have been visited for centuries and there the impacts develop over along period of time but sometimes holy sites are discovered suddenly, bringing dramatic and sudden changes to the local residents. Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina is one such example. Vukonic (1992, 1996, 2002) explains how the discovery of a holy shrine in 1981 resulted in a sudden growth of private accommodation and in land price inflation.In the Islamic world, income generated from the pilgrims to Mecca is the second major pillar of Saudi Arabian economy after oil (Aktas and Ekin, 2007). Pilgrimage generates annual revenues of
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approximately $8 billion and over the past 30 years Saudi Arabiahas invested $35 billion in improving facilities for pilgrims (Salih, 2003). Pilgrimage tourism is of course not free from negative impacts. El-Bakry (2003) notes that the high cost of an umra or hajj trip for Muslim people plus the increase in the number of people performing umra, gave rise to a black market for the exchange rate of the Saudi riyal. More precisely, the Saudi riyal increased 16% between Novembers. Impacts of pilgrimage tourism. Source: Shinde, 2003, p. 93.Residents Perceptions of pilgrimage Tourism. Against the Central Bank of Egypts rate. In addition, the flow of riyal to the black market caused a cash deficiency forcing local banks to refuse grants even for small amounts to travellers (El- Bakry, 2003). In fact, according to Rashid (2007), operations and contracts are now set up to ensure that any element of speculation, uncertainty and gambling are eliminated orminimized.Changes in the local economy and society due to the large number of pilgrimage tourists may contribute to a process of cultural commoditization and acculturation (Ichaporia, 1983;Joseph and Kavoori, 2001; Cohen, 1988). For example, the authentic pilgrimages have given way in Sri Lanka to large-scale tourism (Pfaffenberger, 1983), which combines both recreation and pilgrimage (Singh, 2005). In Vrindavan, a popular Hindu pilgrimage centre in India, the improvements in accessibility and availability of transportation have long replaced the traditional pure form of pilgrimage on foot for the majority of visitors to the particular site (Shinde, 2006, 2007; Timothy and Olsen, 2006; Jackson and Davis, 2000). In accordance with changes in visitor patterns and the expansion of pilgrimage travel, many tourist enterprises (hotels and tour operators) have emerged in the vicinity of the most popular temples, indicating growing tourism activity (Shinde, 2007) and diminishing the sacred atmosphere. Similarly, in El Camino, Spain, the process of secularization has been accelerated by the Council of Europes designation of the pilgrimage route to Santiago as the first European Cultural Itinerary (Morpeth, 2007). In fact, the transformation from local religious rituals to national festivals, as is also the case in Anda-lusian pilgrimage, raised conflicts and problems for the local population (Crain, 1992). On the other hand, the positive impacts caused by the pilgrimage tourists often motivate residents to seek preservation of their religious sites and festivals not necessarily for purely religious reasons but also in order to safeguard the stream of pilgrimage tourists (Cohen, 1992). For instance, in Lisbon each year on June 13 on the day of the feast of St Anthony, the Town Hall sponsors the weddings of poor couples. In the year 2000, approximately 2,000 couples were married at the Town Hall and thousands more came to enjoy parades and other events citywide, making it an important event in the citys tourist calendar (Tilson, 2001).In summary, a pilgrimage site is connected to the non-sacred world and pilgrimage tourism impacts both positively and negatively on the local community. THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT THROUGH PILGRIMAGE TOURISM The economic impact of pilgrimage tourism can be seen its contribution to a country, the largest contributions to pilgrimage tourism is seen in the many pilgrimage places in India (Bruner 1994). Many small places economies are highly depend on pilgrimage tourism as evidenced by the significant share of pilgrimage tourism in their total earnings. in 2009, pilgrimage tourism alone contributed 44.5 percent of the total export earnings of Indian tourism. Tourism in India has also provided a substantial contribution to Indian tourism,
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amounting to 13.7 percent in 2009, taking full advantage of the potential of their natural, pilgrimage tourism resources, countries like India and foreign countries are benefiting from the pilgrimage tourism. Bruner 1994; Daniel 1996).in 2009, pilgrimage tourism in India and neighbouring countries accounted respectively for 23.3 and 22.5% of their total foreign exchange earnings. In the other countries of the region, the contribution of pilgrimage tourism and is averaged between 50 to 60% mainly because of their potentialities and wealth. However in the light of the excreted continuing growth of the pilgrimage tourism in the foreseeable future, it can be assumed that the share of pilgrimage tourism in the Indian economy will be more significant. (Silberberg 1995, while there are various definitions of them converge around the concepts of improving the well being of country citizens, promoting higher standards of living, employment and conditions of economic and social progress. therefore in the absence of better indications to measure the impacts of pilgrimage tourism, its importance for employment has been used in the present document. The pilgrimage tourism contributes significantly to the creation of employment, both directly and indirectly in 2009, the industry in Indian region provided jobs for about 21% people. Representing an average of 8.9% of total employment. Taylor 2001), pilgrimage tourism employment in north-east-asia is estimated at 9 million jobs or 6.1% of total employment. This situation is attributed mainly to china where 1 out of 10 people works in a pilgrimage tourism related industry. (Shinde, 2007) the importance of pilgrimage tourism becomes more significant. When the structure of the work force in Indian economy is analysed. A comparison with countries in other sub regions indicated that the share of total employment in pilgrimage tourism sector in 2009 varied from 2.4 percent in India to 5% in other countries. Fueled by sustained growth, the pilgrimage tourism industry has managed to become a significant provider of employment in India. Handler and Saxton (1988), thereby improving the economic situation at the people in India. In addition, revenue generated from pilgrimage tourism has enabled Govt. to allocate pilgrimage resources, for improving pilgrimage tourism ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS OF PILGRIMAGE TOURISM ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE Tourism has major economic significance for a country.the receipts from international tourism can provide a valuable source of earnings for many countries both developed as well as developing.visitor spending generates income for both public and private sector besides affecting wages and employment opportunities.although tourism is sensitive to the level of economic activity in the tourist generating countries,it provides more fixed earnings than primary products.the income from tourism has tended to increase at a higher rate than merchandise export in a number of countries especially in countries having a low industrial base.there is now and almost assured channel for financial flows from the developed countries to the developing countries rising the latters export earnings and most important source of income for a number of countries both developed and developing. ROLE OF RELIGIOUS TOURISM IN BALANCE ECONOMIC GROWTH In India, religious tourism plays a vital role in narrowing economic imbalance. Most of the places, especially rural areas and the areas which have no core competence or business, survive
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due to religious tourism. It provides business and employment opportunities to local population helps to take care of their requirements. For instance, 'Sulli Karadu' a small dry rural area near Coimbatore, TamilNadu, India, well known for a rural deity which is very powerful, ought to be worshipped by offering Camphor in big quantities which is available in nearby shops. Devotees stand in mile long queue to offer their offerings. It provides livelihood to local population who sell camphor to the devotees which is supplied by camphor manufacturers. Also, it was interpreted that the whole exercise was orchestrated by the camphor manufacturers to sell their products which has been banned by TamilNadu Endowment Board to camphor in temples, by quoting the reason that would spoil the environment. How ever, this is a classical example on the religious tourism which fed the whole village. Also, a place called "Thadi Kombu" near Madurai, well known for a deity viz. "Shorna Bairavar" which is very powerful to collect the bad debts, it is the believe that if a pilgrim visit the place for 8 times in a particular day of the month, his/her prayers would be answered. This generates employment opportunities in the sleeping semi-urban small town, also generated business for bus owners who take devotees for charter trips on that particular day from far off places. These are all the examples of small places which generates business and employment opportunities for the local population, let alone, many famous places like "Palani", Madurai, Rameswaram, Kanyakumar, etc. in Tamil Nadu, and well known, "Sabari Malai" in kerala, which generates millions and provides employment opportunities to many. The whole kerala belt has been benefiting from lakhs for devotees visit sabari malai during particular seasons. These provide tremendous opportunities for marketers to focus on these locations to market their products and services. It is the dual benefit of catering location population as well to promote the products/services. STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE RELIGIOUS TOURISM THROUGH CORPORATE MARKET RESPONSIBILITY (CRP) Definitely, the marketers would get benefit out of the booming religious tourism as they could find new territories to sell their products and services. They would also take part in developing these Places along with local development authorities. a) Marketers could participate in providing basic sanitary facilities along with they could promote their products viz. If X company sponsors the Free or Paid Rest room facilities, its products would only be sold.
b) Marketers could also participate in constructing rooms for devotees to stay and promote their products c) Marketers could offer free/paid transportation facilities which will carry the promotion of their products/ services d) Pharmaceutical companies could sponsor free medical camps in which their products could be promoted e) Food products companies could set up their outlets to sell products with subsidized /actual prices
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f) Clothing/Garment companies could set up their stalls to promote their products and services. It clearly shows that there is enough room for marketers to participate in Corporate Market Responsibility which offers the dual benefit of offering services to the society as well to promote their products/services. This would definitely provide a lucrative mind space in potential target group in which would not have done by spending millions on conventional promotion tools. Hence, it is the marketers and the state and central government could join their hands to concentrate on these locations in order to generate business and employment opportunities as well to promote their products/services. If this done, the government would not worry about offering minimum 100 days employment opportunities, they will take care of themselves. The government could seek help from marketers to offer necessary infrastructure support viz. transportation, water and sanitation, power and other basic facilities which ensure the influx and pleasant stay of pilgrims. RELIGIOUS TOURISM KNITTING HEARTS Religion may be a dicey word in recent Indian political lexicon, yet, unites the country from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. This article does not discuss the intricacies of religion and its role in India; it does discuss the economic face of religion in removing economic disparity across the country. Comparing the different countries across the globe, India is surprisingly possess different religions viz. Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, Persian to name a few, yet, the people embrace different religions live together. Also, people belong to different religions visit other religions sacred locations which is very unique and surprising. India is a country of complex culture, yet people live with understanding and tolerance. It is always an amazing place for researchers who involve in behavioral science. People belong to different religions; follow different customs, traditions, having different life style, tastes and preferences, which always pose a challenge for marketers and global companies send their global managers to India to get trained as it plays a role of potential training ground. Marketers also focus on encasing the religious believe of the population by targeting religious tourism locations to market their locations viz. Kumbamela at Varanasi, Allahabad, Rajmundry etc. are the hottest locations for the marketers to target their potential consumers. These locations woo many pilgrims across the country and provide a bouquet of potential consumers at one place which provides a platform to companies to reach the mass at nominal cost of promotion. India possesses many pilgrimage locations across the country from north to south to east to west which bridges the economic disparity of the population. Movement of domestic tourists to different places ensures the movement of money to the required places. For instance, Tirupathi is the famous religious location in Andrapradesh which woos people across the country and world. It is treated the richest pilgrimage location next to Vatican. Tirupathi generates employment opportunities to many and supports considerable number of population. Considering the core competence i.e. the ability of the place to generate employment opportunities with certain skill sets of the people of Tirupathi, it contains none. Yet, with the famous Balaji Temple, it runs like a multinational company spins billions in revenues per year.
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BONANZA FOR MARKETERS Many companies target religious locations to promote their existing and new products which they find very opt to reach the target group. Even, companies sponsor religious festivals viz. Ramco, Birla, to name a few, in order to win the hearts and minds of people. Recent 'Kumbhmela in Allahabad and Rajmundry, paved a root to billions of business to local and multinational conglomerates. These places are considered special rendezvous for marketers to promote products and services with nominal cost. Most of the companies set up free food stalls, camping tents, drinking water fountains, medical treatment camps to serve the pilgrims visit the places. This is an innovative approach normally be executed to capture the hearts of potential target group. This would provide a mind space for products and services which they may consider buy these brands in future. These are the practices to create an experience and attitude about brands before the actual usage. ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS IN PILGRIMAGE TOURISM; According to the latest report from the world travel and tourism council in the year 1999 travel and tourism is expected to generated about 3.5 trillion us dollars of gdp and almost 200 million jobs across the world economy approximately,one third of this comes from the industry itself and the remainder from its very strong catalytic flow-through effect in other sectors such as retail and construction.world travel and tourism gdp is fore cast to increase in real terms at 3% per annum in the decade 2010.in the same period employement in travel and tourism is expected to grow at 2.6% per annum.world travel and tourism council has summarized the world highlights concerning travel and tourism industry as follows; 1.the travel and tourism economy will account for 11.7 of world gdp in 1999. 2.travel and tourism has emerged strongly from the asia crisis with leisure tourism growth expected to grow by 4.7 in 1999 and business travel by 4.4%. 3.spending by international visitors will amount to 8% of word exports in 1999 with further impact by export of travel and tourism related goods. 4Travel and tourism related GDP is forecast to increase at 3% per annum in real terms.
5.Over 8% of all jobs worldwide will depend upon Travel and Tourism; 6.Travel and Tourism will support the creation of over 5.5 million jobs per year over the next decade. This points to a fact that tourism today is a great economic force.its status as a major economic activity has been well established by almost all the nations of the world.
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INCOME GENERATED WITH IN THE COUNTRY Income in an economy can be generated from various sources like salary, wages, rent, taxes,interest, profit and so on. The expenditure made by one person is the income of another person.Income is created directly or indirectly. Tourism a labour intensive service industry, can create direct as well as indirect income from tourist expenditure by providing tourist goods and services. For example, expenditure in hotels, investment in infrastructure development, taxis, car parking, catering services, purchase of goods, and services like water, electricity, gas, food and beverages etc all result in income generation. The flow of money generated by tourismmultiplies many times as it passes through various sections of economy. This is known as the multiplier effect of tourism earnings. It is the extra income produced in an economy as a result of the initial spending of money. This extra income is again invested directly or indirectly and there can be different rounds of income generation. Along with the initial spending and with each round of spending of tourism income,some benefits of spending may be dissipated through different sources known as lea kages. Savings made by individuals or by the country, tourists purchasing imported goods, imports to be made by the local people, remittances of income outside the country etc are the examples of leakages. The following figure explains the tourism income multiplier. The shaded portion represents the area of leakages. There is an inverse relation between tourism income multiplier and proportion of leakages. As the proportion of leakage is high, the proportion of tourism income is low and vice versa. Negi finds that money spent by tourists (tourist expenditure) does not stop moving after it is spent; rather it circulates through the economy of the country. When a tourist visits a place and spends his money in that particular region, part of this money becomes income for the people living in that region. Part of this income is spent which generates income for others to spend. A part of this income is again spent and so on and so forth. This money changes hands a number of times and is spent and respent. This impact of this expenditure on the nations economy will go on multiplying if it is spent and changes hands again and again. Thus the national currency exchanged for foreign currency that enters the country spreads quickly in the market. The intensity of the multiplier depends on the proportion of the income from tourism that is redistributed to other branches of the national economy.The Master Plan of 1986 of the Government of Kerala says: tourism Industry looms large in the economic sphere of Kerala as a potential revolutionary agent of change. A well-organised thrust in the field of tourism can attract millions of people to Kerala from other parts of India and abroad and ensure a steady flow of vast sums to the state demanding a variety of services and goods and thereby providing employment to an ever-increasing number people, educated and uneducated. In fact there is no other industry which can meet successfully some of the most vexed problems of Kerala such as poverty and unemployment. The tourist expenditure has a tremendous effect on the economy of the host country. From the frontline level it diffuses into the inner levels of the economy. Kamra catalogued the various levels of the impact of tourist spending as the direct, the indirect, and the induced effects. The direct effect or the first round effect is the most obvious effect of tourism spending. The effect is created in the front-line tourist sectors of provisioning of tourist goods and services.Expenditures on hotels, restaurants, taxies, railways, domestic airlines, tourismgenerated exports etc are included in this group. The direct impact is in general and depends on the capability of thedestination to provide for tourist demands.The indirect effect is a series of
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the successive rounds of secondary expenditure by suppliers to the tourist sectors, which results from the direct expenditure. Purchase of goods and services by the front-line establishments from local suppliers and wholesalers and from other sections within the local economy constitute indirect effect. Generally, indirect effect will be less than the direct effect because of the leakages in the direct effect.The incremental local incomes accrued to the local people in the form of direct or indirect income may be spent or re spent for non-tourism goods and services. Such income generates further additional rounds of income and it is called induced effect of tourist income. For example, hotel workers purchas ing goods and services from their wages. PILGRIMAGE TOURISM ARE OFTEN BIG BUSINESS It is estimated that in the US alone some 25% of the traveling public is interested in some form of pilgrimage or faith-based tourism. When one adds to this the number of people who travel for faith-based conventions, and faith based activities such as weddings, bar mitzvahs or funerals, the number becomes extraordinarily large. World Religious Travel is one of the fastest growing segments in travel today. Religious travel is estimated at a value of US$18 billion and 300 million travelers strong. Major faith based destinations such as Israel, Italy and Saudi Arabia have developed large industries that provide services for people on pilgrimage POSITIVE IMPACTS Creation of job oppurtunities; local people are employed in different sectors of the tourism industry;opportunities for women.New fields for commercial activities;Tourism opens up new possibilities for ventures; attracts new investment in the city.Tourist spending; Tourist spending provides the necessary income for preserving and managing places of attraction. Such spending also becomes a source of revenues for municipal councils (E.G parking, tourist taxes etc. MULTIPLIER EFFECT Tourist spending are spread in different sectors and create jobs and revenues on sectors indirectly related to the tourism industry; contribution to local wealth, economic development and regeneration. NEGATIVE IMPACTS
Increased expenses for a town; Spending on cleaning garbage collection, water disposal lighting, marketing and promotion can impact severely on the municipal budget.Increase in the price of real states; Prices of land and houses increase;competition for the use of land; poorer section of the population sometimes have to move out of the town.General price increases; Retailers and suppliers increase the prices of goods services; segregation between tourists and locals; desertification or tourist appropriation of creation of ghettos of gentrification. STATISTICS IN PILGRIMAGE TOURISM AROUND THE GLOBE Although no definitive study has been completed on worldwide religious tourism, some segments of the industry have been measured:
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According to the World Tourism Organization, an estimated 300 to 330 million pilgrims visit the world's key religious sites every year. According to the U.S. Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, Americans traveling overseas for "religious or pilgrimage" purposes has increased from 491,000 travelers in 2002 to 633,000 travelers in 2005 (30% increase). According to the Religious Conference Management Association, in 2006 more than 14.7 million people attended religious meetings (RCMA members), an increase of more than 10 million from 1994 with 4.4 million attendees. The United Methodist Church experienced an increase of 455% in mission volunteers from 1992 with almost 20,000 volunteers compared to 110,000 volunteers in 2006. The Christian Camp and Conference Association states that more than eight million people are involved in CCCA member camps and conferences, including more than 120,000 churches. Religious attractions including Sight & Sound Theatre attracts 800,000 visitors a year while the Holy Land Experience and Focus on the Family Welcome Center each receives about 250,000 guests annually. pilgrimage tourism, also commonly referred to as faith tourism, is a form of tourism whereby people of faith travel individually or in groups for pilgrimage, missionary, or leisure (fellowship) purposes. 50,000 churches in the United States with religious travel programs One-quarter (25%) of travelers said they were currently interested in taking a PILGRIMAGE vacation. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS The results of the foregoing study have clearly demonstrated that pilgrimage tourism is playing a major role in socio-economic development. Among other observations, it has shown that, for many countries of the region, the economic significance of pilgrimage tourism is very large when measured against GDP and exports. For many countries in general and the least developed countries in particular, pilgrimage tourism is a sector in which they have comparative, if not competitive, advantages for which they can efficiently convert domestic resources into foreign exchange. If appropriately used, such foreign exchange can purchase the investment goods necessary to support more broadly based economic development policies. . The study has demonstrated that the social significance of pilgrimage tourism, measured in terms of employment (especially unskilled labour), is very large. It has also illustrated that appropriate pilgrimage tourism-related interventions can play a role in raising the standard of living and in reducing poverty in local communities. It is often necessary, however, to develop and implement policies that take advantage of the potential benefits of pilgrimage tourism in socioeconomic development. In some cases, this is simply a matter of increasing awareness so that the joint benefits to pilgrimage tourists and local communities can be factored-in at the planning stage. In other cases it may involve reducing leakages (or retaining pilgrimage tourist spending). In yet other cases affirmative action may need to be taken to capture the benefits.
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In any event, there is a strong case for considering pilgrimage tourism as an important sector in socio-economic development.. REFERENCES Adrian Ivakhiv, 2003 Nature and Self in New Age Pilgrimage,routeledge publications. Culture and Religion journal, Vol. 4, No. 1, American Geographical Society, Vol. 90, No. 4 pp. 536-558 Bar, Doron and Cohen-Hattab, Kobi(2003) 'A New Kind of Pilgrimage: The Modern Tourist Pilgrim of Nineteenth Century and Early Twentieth Century Palestine', Middle Eastern Studies, 39: 2, 131 148 Claudia Liebelt , 2010. Becoming Pilgrims in the Holy Land: On Filipina Domestic Workers Struggles and Pilgrimages for a, The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 11, Nos 3-4, September ISSN 1444-2213 Dallen J. Timothy and Daniel H. Olsen, eds 2006. Tourism, Religion and Spiritual Journeys. London and New York: Routledge, Ins Hernndez-vila.1996 Mediations of the Spirit: Native American Religious Traditions and the Ethics of Representation, University of Nebraska Press,Vol. 20, No. 3/4, pp. 329-352 Ioana JOSAN, 2009 pilgrimage a rudimentary form of modern tourism no. 2, vol. 4pag. 160168 Jayashree B. Gokhale 1986.The Sociopolitical Effects of Ideological Change: The Buddhist Conversion of Maharashtrian Untouchables.The Journal of Asian Studies, Association for Asian Studies, Vol. 45, No. 2, pp. 269-292 John Elsner 1992 Pausanias: A Greek Pilgrim in the Roman World Oxford University Press
John Elsner 1992 A Greek Pilgrim in the Roman World Oxford University Press , Past & Present, No. 135, pp. 3-29
John Elsner 1992 Pausanias: A Greek Pilgrim in the Roman World,Oxford University Press No. 135 pp. 3-29 Kamla-Raj 2010 Impact of Pilgrim Tourism at Haridwar,12(2): 99-105 Kathryn Rountree Goddess 2002. Pilgrims as Tourists: Inscribing the Body through Sacred Travel Kathryn Rountree Goddess 2002Pilgrims as Tourists: Inscribing the Body through Sacred Travel, Oxford University PressVol. 63, No. 4 pp. 475-496
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Kathryn Rountree 2002. Goddess Pilgrims as Tourists: Inscribing the Body through Sacred Travel. Sociology of Religion, Oxford University Press ,Vol. 63, No. 4, pp. 475-496 Lynn Huntsinger and Mara Fernndez-Gimnez2000 Spiritual Pilgrims at Mount Shasta, California Maria Eva Subtelny1989; The Cult of Holy Places: Religious Practices among Soviet Muslims, Middle East Institute, Middle East Journal, Vol. 43, No. 4 pp. 593-604 Mark MacWilliams. 1995 Buddhist Pilgrim/Buddhist Exile: Old and New Images of Retired Emperor Kazan in the, The University of Chicago Press,Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 303-328 Paulla A. Ebron 1999. Tourists as Pilgrims: Commercial Fashioning of Transatlantic Politics, Blackwell Publishing. American Ethnologist, Vol. 26, No. 4 (Nov.,), pp. 910-932 Paulla A. Ebron1999 Tourists as Pilgrims: Commercial Fashioning of Transatlantic Politics Blackwell Publishing,Vol. 26, No. 4 (Nov.,), pp. 910-932 Roger Friedland and Richard Hecht.1998The Bodies of Nations: A Comparative Study of Religious Violence in Jerusalem and Ayodhya, The University of Chicago Press,Vol. 38, No. 2 pp. 101-149 Sociology of Religion, Oxford University Press, Vol. 63, No. 4, pp. 475-496 Terry R. Slater 2004. Encountering God: Personal Reflections on 'Geographer as Pilgrim', Blackwell Publishing : Area, Vol. 36, No. 3 (Sep.,), pp. 245-253
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SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS IN PILGRIMAGE TOURISM

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