Befitting the land of religions, the Incredible India campaign is set to focus on tourism of faith. A recent Ficci-Yes Bank study on religious tourism underlines the potential that this segment has and the policy measures that the government needs to take. The report was unveiled at the fifth edition of the Great Indian Travel Bazaar held in Jaipur.

?Religious tourism has great potential and the government is working proactively to tap this potential,? union tourism minister Subodh Kant Sahai said. He also added that the ministry is looking at doubling the number of inbound tourists in the current Five Year Plan. In 2011, the country witnessed around 5.7 million tourists.

The Ficci-Yes Bank study lays a clear road map for the development of religious tourism in India. Some of the policy initiatives and measures suggested include developing religious tourism circuits through a hub-and-spoke model, training manpower to market religious tourism destinations as major chunk of visitors are attracted to these destinations due to reasons like studying old culture, evolution of practices and research, developing infrastructure and improving connectivity. ?To make these sites commerically viable tourist spots its important to have air connectivity. The way government developed the Buddhist Circuit, we need more such initiatives,? said Yes Bank president and country head for strategic initiatives & government advisory central and state government Tushar Pandey.

The civil aviation ministry has developed specialised infrastructure for the development of Buddhist Tourism Circuit by developing an international airport near Gaya and provided a strong impetus to the development of Buddhist Tourism Circuit. The airport operates flights directly from countries like China, Japan, Thailand, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

In the wake of concerns pertaining to money laundering and terror-financing activities, the report suggests scrutiny of religious trusts. There needs to be a practice for reviewing the financial status and regulation of religious trusts. Such a law will also pave the way to make public names of organisations that claim tax exemption to ensure greater transparency. This is especially crucial as some of the religious trusts in India are among the richest in the world.

This year, the Great Indian Travel Bazaar saw 263 foreign participants from 54 countries and about 230 Indian sellers.

(Travel for this story was sponsored by Ficci)