Of these, about 25 will be homestays run by homeowners and 25 will be small and medium hotels with between 10 to 20 rooms each.
The company said it is being ‘actively supported’ by Ayodhya Development Authority and Uttar Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation to start these properties in a time bound manner.
Oyo said its data from January to September 2022 revealed that revenue of hotels onboarded on the Oyo platform
doubled within three months compared to independent budget hotels of a similar size.
Tourist arrivals in Ayodhya have been on the rise consistently over the last few years as the city infrastructure is getting rejuvenated and highway and road access improves, the company said.
In 2017, approximately 1.5 crore tourists visited Ayodhya, and about 2 crore in 2019. The number dipped during the pandemic years, but rebounded again in 2022 when more than 2.20 crore tourists visited the spiritual city.
The government expects that Ayodhya tourism will increase ten times by 2024 once the construction and development work of Ram temple is completed.
It is spending approximately Rs 30,000 crore for the transformation of Ayodhya to make it a spiritual centre with a global appeal.
Anuj Tejpal, chief merchant officer for Oyo said the company has made a ‘robust’ expansion plan for Ayodhya after multiple rounds of meetings with the government to understand their key requirements and concerns.
“We are enthused by the swift action and encouragement provided by the Ayodhya Development Authority and UP Tourism Department. They are highly keen that we encourage the opening of well-run homestays to provide an additional source of income for the local residents. We have started onboarding homestays already,” he said.
“Ayodhya is the top spiritual city in our plans of expanding Oyo footprints across major religious corridors in India,” he added.
The Uttar Pradesh government is also working towards the preservation and restoration of heritage sites in Ayodhya.
This includes the restoration of the Ram Katha Park, which is a major pilgrimage site, and the development of a Ramayana Museum.
Oyo said it is betting big on religious corridors like Ayodhya to boost its expansion plans in India in 2023.
The company’s “Cultural Travel 2022 Round-up’ report highlighted that spiritual travel is a key contributor to the domestic travel recovery in India.
Oyo said the recent instance of this interest in spiritual travel is the Good Friday long weekend, where Oyo’s booking
trends revealed that Varanasi emerged as the top choice among pilgrimage destinations, followed by Puri,
Shirdi, Amritsar, and Haridwar.
Alongside these cities, Tirupati, Mathura, Vrindavan, Guruvayur, and Madurai also saw a significant surge in booking demand.
