Mumbai: My Tirth India initiated with a vision to promote Spiritual Tourism in India has recently announced it has no choice but to shut down operations for the time being. Spiritual tourism it said has been over the ages the most understated and underdeveloped yet the most revered form of travel in India.
According to statistics, the Indian Travel Industry accounts for 10% of the country’s GDP and of this humongous market, 65% to 70% is Spiritual Tourism. Unlike other forms of travel spiritual travel is often fraught with trepidation and fear. A visit to a temple generally ends with a sense of relief rather than pleasure and happiness. India being a continent by itself, the linguistic difficulties, the harassment of travel and sometimes the fleecing by the locals, all add to the fear associated with Spiritual Tourism, yet people come of their own accord knowing very well the trouble they may face due to lack of infrastructure and knowledge.
Founder of My Tirth India Indraneel Dasgupta said, “We at My Tirth India, endeavoured to bring that ‘smile’ back to Spiritual Tourism. The economies of several cities depend on temples. Hotels, travel, food, and culture, all are built around the temple.
“However, it is this experience, we have neglected the most. My Tirth India over-a-period of the last couple of years, had connected with temples, priests, hotels, travel agents, astrologers, ayurveda, yoga and wellness centres across the country bringing together a holistic experience to every pilgrim. At the same time, we have tried to generate as much employment as possible across cities, villages and towns encouraging people to rediscover their culture, traditions and heritage. But it’s with utter sadness, that we finally have to shut down the office due to the lack of funds after the unfortunate demise of our principal shareholder and mentor.
“We in our own small way tried to make a difference in people’s lives and at the same time pay homage to our forefathers who in spite of oppression and repression had not given up on their roots and culture’. But as things stand now, we are unable to proceed any further running with a skeletal staff who are working without pay, having no office and working out of our homes. We now have no choice but to stop operations at least temporarily as we have no funds to continue.”
My Tirth India added that it had received investments of Rs. 8 crores with a vision of expanding into building a spiritual universe encompassing all forms of spiritual travel and India’s first spiritual membership programme for travelers.
