India’s pilgrimage centres are fast becoming hot-spots for hotel chains, as both domestic and international groups look to getting into the market for this segment.Devotees flocking to so-called “temple towns” such as Shirdi in western Maharashtra state, the Sikh holy city of Amritsar in Punjab and far-flung Haridwar have for years had to make do with basic facilities.The report said a rise in disposable incomes and more Indians experiencing foreign travel have led to demand for better accommodation facilities.”There was a time when people who were visiting these temple towns didn’t have the money for quality accommodation,” the Associate Vice-President of Best Western India, Gaurav Sarin, told AFP.”That’s changed very drastically in the past few years. The people who are now visiting are people looking for an international hospitality experience and they have the disposable income to spend on the room and other facilities.”For Best Western, temple towns and “Tier-II” cities have become a key market and religious tourists core clients.According to latest government figures, there were just over 650 million domestic tourist visits in 2009 — up 15.5% on a year earlier.Demand for rooms outstrips supply in places like Tirupati, a temple city in southern Andhra Pradesh state which reportedly receives a staggering 50,000 to 70,000 visitors every day.”The international travel market in India is quite seasonal and fickle,” Kaushik Vardharajan, MD of hotel sector analysts HVS Hospitality Services, was quoted saying.”The demand for these temple cities and heritage sites are pretty recession-proof. They’re not seasonal in nature and if it’s bad times, people are going to go to the temple more.”
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