Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on pilgrim city: A case of Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India

Abstract

India has one of the largest pilgrim traffic in the world as it has large number of sacred and holy sites of different religions. Besides tourism has been a rising industry in India during last few decades thus providing excellent opportunities for pilgrimage tourism until the outbreak of Novel Coronavirus hit the Pilgrim industry. The Covid-19 global pandemic has led to fatal situation and is inextricably affecting the economy of the nation. One such case is of Haridwar “The Gateway to the abode of Gods” in the Uttarakhand state of India. Every year lakhs of devotees visit Haridwar to take bath in the holy river Ganga in order to attain virtue. Haridwar is a famous religious city for the Hindus and it is also attractive to other domestic and foreign tourists because of its marvellous geographic location and physio-cultural tourist resources. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has raised awareness about the recent outbreak and the Government is taking several measures and formulating various concord at both central and state level to prevent the adversities of COVID-19. In this paper, an attempt has been made to highlight how the pandemic has left the pilgrimage industry gasping. The paper also suggests certain measures to cope up the Covid-19 outbreak thus consequently moving the economy of the region.