Spiritual tourism is turning out to be a key revenue contributor for traveltech startups. For OYO, religious tourism contributes over 20% of its overall revenue at present. EaseMyTrip expects around 25% of its overall revenue to come from non-air segments, with a significant contribution from spiritual and experiential travel in the current financial year.
“The momentum from Maha Kumbh 2025 is expected to continue, driving strong demand for hotel bookings, curated packages, and on-ground services in destinations like Ayodhya, Varanasi, and Chitrakoot,” Rikant Pittie, CEO and co-founder, EaseMyTrip told FE. For FY26, EaseMyTrip plans to significantly scale up its EasyDarshan — a vertical that offers spiritual travel booking services — and expand its curated pilgrimage offerings across all major religious circuits such as Char Dham, Jyotirlingas, Shaktipeeths, and key temples in South India. It plans to collaborate with temple trusts and local administrations to ensure authenticity, safety, and comfort for pilgrims.
Events like the Mahakumbh in Prayagraj and the consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya have opened up opportunities for these startups. To meet the growing demand, OYO is also planning to introduce its premium hotel category in Ayodhya soon. In parallel, it is also expanding in other prominent religious destinations such as Varanasi, Haridwar, and Puri, with over 250 hotels in the pipeline, along with growth in Amritsar, Ujjain, Nasik, Vrindavan, and Tirupati. Overall, by the end of 2025, it plans to add 500 hotels across 12 major pilgrimage hubs. To enable this, the firm is partnering with travel agencies specialising in religious tourism, including kitchen tour experiences. “Religious tourism continues to be a cornerstone of OYO’s business. As the government accelerates the development of key religious corridors, we are strategically expanding our footprint in these high-growth destinations to serve the rising influx of pilgrims and spiritual travellers,” Varun Jain, COO, OYO said. Notably, OYO clocked its maiden profitable year in FY24 with a net profit of Rs 229 crore. The hospitality giant is also on track to report an EBITDA of Rs 1,550 crore in FY25.
MakeMyTrip, Goibibo, TBO Tek and ixigo are some of the other leading traveltech companies that have tapped into the demand with niche packages. For instance, travel distribution company TBO Tek has collaborated with Zamzam, a B2B/B2C booking search engine for end-to-end Umrah travel services, headquartered in Saudi Arabia. For ixigo, flight bookings witnessed 5.4x YoY demand during Maha Kumbh, with nearby airports in Lucknow and Varanasi witnessing 69% YoY growth. Trains bookings via its platforms, ConfirmTkt and ixigo Trains, saw a 4x YoY rise, while AbhiBus saw the highest surge in bus bookings at 20x YoY. Booking data from ixigo’s bus business, AbhiBus, highlights a surge in young travellers, with those aged 20-25 making up 26% of total bus bookings during Maha Kumbh. Key origin cities contributing to the surge in demand across the ixigo Group included New Delhi, Mumbai, Kanpur, Meerut, Varanasi, Lucknow, Jaipur, Ranchi, and Ayodhya.
For MakeMyTrip, searches for religious destinations on its platform increased by 46% in 2024 compared to 2022. Destinations like Ayodhya, Varanasi, and Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh have led this growth, with searches rising by over 60% in 2024 vs. 2023, while others like Ujjain, Dwarka, Katra, Guruvayoor, and Amarnath have also recorded consistent double-digit growth. In Q3 FY25, pilgrimage destinations accounted for over 10% of our total room nights sold on the platform. To tap into the demand, the company recently launched ‘Loved by Devotees’, a curated collection of 450+ hotels and homestays across 26 leading spiritual destinations. “As the demand for spiritual travel grows, we continue to innovate and leverage the latest technology to ensure that travellers find stays tailored to their specific needs for comfort, accessibility, and convenience,” Rajesh Magow, co-founder and group CEO, MakeMyTrip said.
