- India’s spiritual and religious market is estimated to be over $ 30 bn or INR 1.8 lac crore.
- A large audience of 1.2 bn, and 330 mn gods & goddesses
- India has a strong spiritual market given past traditions & beliefs
- Top 20 temples such as Tirupati, Vaisno Devi, generate INR 5000 cr annually
- While other 500 mid sized temples collect INR 20000 cr in donations per year
If the above statistics are to be believed, there is a huge potential for spiritual tourism in India, and
Thomas Cook India has tied up with E-Puja, an unusual concept where ‘Darshan’ packages provide a unique opportunity to visit temples. Thomas Cook arranges for guided temple visits and performing rituals such as Abhishekam/Homam in addition to the customary travel and accommodation provisions.
At present TCIL is offering more than 40 packages covering over 45 Temples in the North-East-West-South-Central parts of India. Gradually the number will increase. The packages include stay (hotel choices available), airport/railway station transfers, local sightseeing, temple visits and rituals such as Abhishekam / Homam at select temples (some are options also). They do not include airfare, but our sales team can help with booking tickets on suitable flights at an additional cost.
These are customized (FIT) packages for the individual family. There wont be any other co-passengers from TC sharing your vehicle.
A local person associated with a temple will make all the arrangements for the rituals and pujas. Once customers express which puja they wish to perform, the team takes over, and connects with the particular temple authorities who then assist and facilitate the Puja/ Homa, after talking to the guest who has booked under this Tag. All required items to perform the rituals (such as Abhishekam/Homam etc) would be carried by the pujari (priest). However, you are free to bring any items / prasadam / offerings (permissible according to the temple authorities) as per your wish.
The advantage for our customers would be– for the temples where you are scheduled to perform rituals as per our package-inclusions, you may have a separate queue or entry as per the prevailing practices at each of the temples. However, for temples where only assistance or a guided temple-visit is being arranged, you may need to follow the regular queue. For temples where there are arrangements of booking tickets, and faster Darshans, we shall book the same for you as part of the package inclusions.
Some of the packages are a combination of spiritual and leisure destinations, ideal for a family holiday. Thomas Cook will assure you have a happy and ‘heavenly’ time.
Check out the details and prices on our website: https://www.thomascook.in/holidays/spiritual-tour-packages
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