We know spiritual tourism is big in India. But the world’s biggest democracy also cashes in on what it does best: elections.
If the 2019 general elections attracted around 25,000 visitors in ‘election tourism’, this year already over 7,000 foreign tourists have arrived to witness the country going to polls, as per a private player.
Not restricted to Lok Sabha elections alone, the Indian electoral process as a spectacle has been increasingly in demand in the last decade during assembly elections as well. “We are the biggest democracy and Indian elections are like festive colourful events,” founder of Election tourism India and chairman of Gujarat tourism Corporation Society Manish Sharma told FE. During elections, each state, district, taluka, village and colony encounter rallies, jan sabhas, and cultural events, an ambience that is appropriate for tourism, he added.
Sharma said Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka have been highlighted this time as…
