Media Release

Udupi, Jan 13: Festivals and events are an important motivation for travel and act as a great tourism attraction for destinations. A five-hundred-year-old ‘Paryaya’ is the festival known for its rituals and religious traditions followed at Sri Krishna Math, Udupi, held biennially, attracting thousands of pilgrims from Karnataka, other states of the country and abroad.

Two researchers from Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration (WGSHA), Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, in their research article titled Experience Dimensions of Religious Festivals: Religion and Spirituality at Paryaya, Udupi, India” indicate that ‘Paryaya’ as a festival help the pilgrims to develop their spirituality.

Their research work has been published in The International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage published by Technology University Dublin, Ireland. The researchers have adopted the concept of experience economy to understand the spiritual nature of religious festivals.

Their quantitative research findings on a study conducted during Paryaya in January 2020 indicate that pilgrims festival experience is a predictor of their revisit intention to Paryaya.

Moreover, the research concludes that visitors to Paryaya can be considered as spiritual tourists as their experience reflects the features of spiritual tourism.