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At a time when religious tourism is thriving in Uttar Pradesh, budding managers of the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIML), too, stepped out from the mundane classroom curriculum and visited different temples and places of worship, including Lord Ayyapa temple and Hanuman Setu, in the city on December 3.
More than paying obeisance to gods, this religious visit, undertaken by around 60 students of the second year, was part of a destination marketing course. Based on their experiences, the students will now pen down USP’s for each religious site from historical and spiritual perspectives and come up with ideas to make these religious places more attractive as tourist destinations.
These projects include the development of pilgrim amenities at Nongsawlia Presbyterian Church, Nartiang Shakti Peeth, Aitnar Pool, and Charantala Kali Temple. Under the PRASHAD scheme, the Ministry of Tourism has also sanctioned a total of eight projects, amounting to INR 256.45 crore, for the integrated development of identified pilgrimage destinations in the Northeast States.
The one-day trip to five city temples was an enriching experience for the students. “It was a wonderful experience to visit various temples of different types and architecture. The tourists visiting each temple were very different and the atmosphere too varied,” said Apurva Gomase, a student. For Shalini Kandan, “The temple trail was an eye opener taking us along the hidden gems, each with its own deep and diverse history, unleashing the new side of Lucknow. As students of destination marketing, it helped us recognise and appreciate the significance of the places around us and how they can be woven meaningfully into a curated pilgrimage circuit for our target audience.”
Destination marketing faculty Prof Devashish Das Gupta, who introduced the religious trip, said, “As part of the immersion exercise in the course, we used to take students to major monuments and parks. Very first time we thought of this religious immersion trip to add a new image about Lucknow, which is otherwise popular for Nawabs and kebabs.” Students, added Gupta, will earn a maximum of 15 marks for writing a good report.
The report will include a religious tourism itinerary and a market strategy, including digital and social media interventions. Students will prepare a need gap analysis benchmarking with the best practices across India.
“All the temples we visited were unique in their historical significance, structure and architecture. The walk helped us realise that Lucknow which is known as a city of nawabs also holds a key presence on the religious front,” said Saloni Bhala, another student.
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