Policy, Planning, and Management of Kedarnath: Addressing Tourist and Management Challenges
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12727/ajts.33.4Keywords:
Religious tourism policy, Pilgrimage management, Pilgrimage sites, Kedarnath, India, JyotirlingaAbstract
Kedarnath Dham is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, which is a very important religious place in India. The study examines how the pilgrimage site is managed and also explores the problems that tourists have while they visit these sites. This study employs a mixed methodology using secondary data and tourist interviews. It further uses systematic thematic analysis to categorise the challenges in Kedarnath. The study finds that the problems include inadequate services, safety issues, etc. This study would help understand the tourists’ challenges in Kedarnath. It also shows how important it is to find a balance between meeting the needs of tourists and protecting the spiritual and cultural heritage of these sites.
References
Bharati, A. (1963). Pilgrimage in the Indian Tradition. History of Religions, 3(1), 135–167. https://doi.org/10.1086/462476
Bhardwaj, S. M. (1983). Hindu Places of Pilgrimage in India. Univ of California Press.
Caber, M., Drori, N., Albayrak, T., & Herstein, R. (2021). Social media usage behaviours of religious tourists: The cases of the Vatican, Mecca, and Jerusalem. International Journal of Tourism Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.2444
Eck, D. L. (1998). The imagined landscape: Patterns in the construction of Hindu sacred geography. Contributions to Indian Sociology, 32(2), 165–188. https://doi.org/10.1177/006996679803200202
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Routledge.
Griffiths, M. (2011). Those who come to pray and those who come to look: interactions between visitors and congregations. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 6(1), 63–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743873x.2010.536234
Howley, J. (1996). Holy Places and Temples in India. Torchlight Publications.
Huang, K., & Pearce, P. (2019). Visitors’ perceptions of religious tourism destinations. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 14, 100371. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2019.100371
Hung, K., Yang, X., Wassler, P., Wang, D., Lin, P., & Liu, Z. (2016). Contesting the Commercialization and Sanctity of Religious Tourism in the Shaolin Monastery, China. International Journal of Tourism Research, 19(2), 145–159. https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.2093
Jackowski, A., & Smith, V. L. (1992). Polish pilgrim-tourists. Annals of Tourism Research, 19(1), 92–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(92)90109-3
Kartal, B., Tepeci, M., & Atlı, H. (2015). Examining the religious tourism potential of Manisa, Turkey with a marketing perspective. Tourism Review, 70(3), 214–231. https://doi.org/10.1108/tr-09-2013-0048
Kasim, A. (2011). Balancing Tourism and Religious Experience: Understanding Devotees’ Perspectives on Thaipusam in Batu Caves, Selangor, Malaysia. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 20(3-4), 441–456. https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2011.562437
Malhotra, N. K., Peterson, M., & Uslay, C. (2006). Helping marketing research earn a seat at the table for decision‐making. European Business Review, 18(4), 294–306. https://doi.org/10.1108/09555340610677507
Naeem, M., Ozuem, W., Howell, K. E., & Ranfagni, S. (2023). A step-by-step process of thematic analysis to develop a conceptual model in qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22(1), 1–18. Sagepub. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069231205789
Nair, S. N. (2010). The Lord Shiva, his 12 jyotirlingams and 5 bhoota lingams. Hindology Books.
Pande, K., & Shi, F. (2023). Managing visitor experience at religious heritage sites. Journal of Destination Marketing and Management, 29, 100800–100800. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2023.100800
Rahimizhian, S., Ozturen, A., & Ilkan, M. (2020). Emerging realm of 360-degree technology to promote tourism destination. Technology in Society, 63, 101411. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101411
Sati, V. P. (2018). Carrying capacity analysis and destination development: a case study of Gangotri tourists/pilgrims’ circuit in the Himalaya. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 23(3), 312–322. https://doi.org/10.1080/10941665.2018.1433220
Shackley, M. L. (2001). Managing Sacred Sites. Continuum.
Shastri, J. L. (2002). Siva Purana (11th ed., Vol. 3). Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology. (Original work published 1991)
Shinde, K. (2007). Pilgrimage and the Environment: Challenges in a Pilgrimage Centre. Current Issues in Tourism, 10(4), 343–365. https://doi.org/10.2167/cit259.0
Shinde, K. (2012). Policy, planning, and management for religious tourism in Indian pilgrimage sites. Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events, 4(3), 277–301. https://doi.org/10.1080/19407963.2012.726107
Shinde, K. (2020). The spatial practice of religious tourism in India: a destinations perspective. Tourism Geographies, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2020.1819400
Silverman, D. (2001). Interpreting qualitative research : methods for analysing talk, text and interaction. Sage.
Singh, S. (2002). Managing the impacts of Tourist and Pilgrim Mobility in the Indian Himalayas / Nouvelles pratiques de tourisme et de pélerinage dans l’Himalaya indien : impacts et modes de gestion. Revue de Géographie Alpine, 90(1), 25–36. https://doi.org/10.3406/rga.2002.3070
Strauss, A. L. (1990). Systematic Coding in Qualitative Research. BMS: Bulletin of Sociological Methodology / Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique, 27, 52–62. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24358658
Tabash, M. I., Farooq, U., El Refae, G. A., Al-Faryan, M. A. S., & Athamena, B. (2023). Impact of religious tourism on the economic development, energy consumption and environmental degradation: evidence from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Tourism Review. https://doi.org/10.1108/tr-07-2022-0347
Timothy, D. J. (2021). Sociopolitical and economic implications of religious and spiritual tourism. Routledge EBooks, 301–314. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429201011-26
Timothy, D. J., & Olsen, D. H. (2006). Tourism, Religion, and Spiritual Journeys. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203001073
Triantafillidou, A., Koritos, C., Chatzipanagiotou, K., & Vassilikopoulou, A. (2010). Pilgrimages: the “promised land” for travel agents?. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 22(3), 382–398. https://doi.org/10.1108/09596111011035963
VukonićB. (1996). Tourism and religion. Pergamon.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Atna Journal of Tourism Studies
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
