As the New Year approaches, the temple city of Ayodhya is getting ready for a huge crowd of devotees and tourists. A grand consecration ceremony was organized in Ram temple on 22 January. Which will complete one year. Devotees and tourists from different parts of the country are expected to come for this one year celebration. The hallmark of which can be seen from the figures of hotel booking in Ayodhya which is continuously getting full. It is reported that all the hotels and lodges of Ayodhya and Faizabad have been booked. On the other hand, Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has also extended the 'darshan' timings for the devotees and has made elaborate arrangements to handle the expected crowd.
Ankit Mishra, owner of a local hotel in Ayodhya, said that we are ready to welcome devotees in this new year. All our rooms are already booked till 15th January. When checked on Saturday morning, the online booking platform showed rooms in some hotels and lodges still available, although due to surge in demand some hotels were charging more than Rs 10,000 per night. Ayodhya has seen a surge in religious tourism since the consecration ceremony earlier this year, and while the Hindu New Year in 'Chaitra' (March–April) holds traditional significance, the English New Year has also seen a rise in devotional enthusiasm. Has been.
Local priest Ramakant Tiwari said that at the beginning of the year, a large number of devotees visit religious places and offer prayers on January 1 to seek the blessings of Ram Lala. To ensure smooth crowd management and security, Ayodhya Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rajkaran Nayyar said there will be strong security arrangements at Ram Temple, Hanumangarhi, Lata Chowk, Guptar Ghat, Surajkund and other popular sites. The temple trust has also made extensive preparations to handle the increasing crowd, especially between December 30 and the first two weeks of January. A representative of the Trust said that darshan timings have been extended and strategic arrangements have been made for all devotees.
The consecration ceremony of the Ram temple, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hundreds of people from all walks of life, led to a surge in tourism activities in Ayodhya as well as Uttar Pradesh. According to the state tourism department, 32.18 crore tourists came to Uttar Pradesh in 2022, which increased to 32.98 crore in the first six months of 2024. The Uttar Pradesh government had said in a statement last week that the credit for the increase in the number of tourists is due to the important contribution of Ayodhya and Kashi (Varanasi). The government said that after the inauguration of the grand Ram temple in January last year, Uttar Pradesh saw a significant increase in tourist inflow within the first six months. In January alone, a record-breaking seven crore tourists arrived, the highest number of tourist arrivals in any state.
