International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 9, September 2014) 165 A Study on Tourism Logistics in the Spiritual Sites of Haridwar and Rishikesh in Uttarakhand Himadri Phukan Assistant Professor, COER School of Management, Roorkee, India Abstract— Globally number of Spiritual tourists has been on the rise in the recent years. India being one of the most preferred spiritual destinations has witnessed the impact, particularly, in the holy places like Haridwar and Rishikesh in the Northern India. However, there have been few characteristic changes in the logistics requirements of the spiritual tourists. These changes are attributed to the technology driven social changes. The present study highlights on some of the important logistics features in the two important spiritual cities of Uttarakhand- Haridwar and Rishikesh. A questionnaire based survey was conducted to collect data from the important stakeholders - the tourists, the hoteliers, the travel agents etc. Analyses of the data revealed that while domestic tourists had preferred hotel accommodation, the International tourists are more attracted by Dharamsalas. Further, more personalized mode of transportation was found to be preferred by the tourists while mobile phone dominated the mode of communication. Consequently, a shift in the logistics paradigm could be observed through this study. Keywords— Spiritual tourism, logistics, customer’s preference, survey. I. INTRODUCTION Tourism is one of the largest industries in the world. According to the World Travel and Tourism (WTT) Council, tourism and travel have become a global industry and is widely considered to be one of the fastest growing industries (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2006). India is fascinating with its ancient and complex culture, dazzling contrasts and breathtaking natural beauty. With the great potential available and the development initiatives taken by the government, Indian inbound tourism has shown a substantial growth in the last decade which has been the best in the history of Indian tourism. India has become one of the major international tourist destinations because of its series of marketing initiatives including the current and highly successful ‗Incredible India‘ campaign. In this context Uttarakhand state is a unique tourist destination with excellent opportunities for development of a diverse range of products involving nature, spirituality, adventure, leisure etc. to satisfy a tourist‘s desire. Uttarakhand state promotes ‗spiritual tourism‘ through its religious diversity and heritage. Spirituality, in general, has recently become an important subject of research in social and business areas. This has added a new dimension to the tourism industry, called ‗spiritual tourism‘. Consequently, there has been an increase in the awareness and research interest in the thematic field of spiritual tourism. The present research work is concerned with an investigation of the marketing aspects of the spiritual tourism in Uttarakhand state of India vis-à-vis its logistics, infrastructure, destinations and economical implications. Uttarakhand, one of the youngest states in India, fortunately, has many reasons to become one of the natural destination choices for the tourists. The state possesses unmatched natural locations for holidaying, sports, adventures, and, in particular, several places for spiritual activities. Uttarakhand is considered as the spiritual capital of India. II. SPIRITUAL TOURISM AND LOGISTICS In India, Uttarakhand, which is a hilly state and home to many spiritual activities, is considered a tourist‘s paradise. The state offers a number of unmatched destinations to the tourists for quenching their spiritual thirsts, for holidaying and for sporting thrills. The mid Himalayan region of Garhwal and Kumaon, which was called by the name Kedarkhand and Manashkhand in the Purans, is known as Uttarakhand today. This entire hilly region covers an area of 53,483 square kilometer, which is 1.63 percent of India‘s area, comprises of 16,828 villages in 13 districts. Uttarakhand extends from 28º 43' N to 31º 27' N longitude and 77º 34' E to 81º 02' E latitude. This new state in the northern part of India is surrounded by Nepal in the East, China in the North, Himachal Pradesh in the west and U.P. in the South. Spiritual tourism is also termed as religious heritage tourism. It includes all the religions, religious places associated with, emotional attachment to these centers and infrastructure facilities for the tourists. This can also be referred to as pilgrimage tourism, as clients are not looking for luxury but arduous journeys to meet the divine goal or simple life. The essence of spiritual tourism is inner feeling through love.