• Kriti Keshari
• Dr. Sunita Srivastava

India is a land of rich cultural heritage and religious dispersion. Besides scatteredness in religious beliefs of its people, the country is home to various religious sites that serve as pious places of worship as well as notable tourist attractions. States like Uttar Pradesh are abode to various pilgrimage sites that attract domestic tourism as well as inbound tourism in the country. Uttar Pradesh, in specific, attracts 14.1% of the total domestic tourism of the nation making it the second-highest tourist attraction in the country (source: Statista.com). To develop a better understanding of the state’s contribution in the respective field, this study attempts to further analyse the annual tourist visits to different religious circuits viz. Buddhist Circuit, Bundelkhand Circuit, Braj Circuit, Awadh Circuit, and Vindhya-Varanasi Circuit (as identified by the state government of Uttar Pradesh), thereby comparing the trends in tourist visits amongst the identified circuits. Based on secondary data sources, this empirical research deploys panel data of annual tourist visits to the state for a period ranging from the year 2013 to 2022. The study finds an upsurging trend in the domestic business for the pandemic-hit tourism industry after the year 2020. The study reports that there have been significant differences in annual tourist visits to the identified religious circuits during the period of study as the former seems to be highly dispersed and variated amongst the circuits.

"An Inter-Circuit Comparison Of Annual Tourist Visits Amongst Religious Circuits In Uttar Pradesh", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.10, Issue 8, page no.g687-g693, August-2023, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2308678.pdf

"An Inter-Circuit Comparison Of Annual Tourist Visits Amongst Religious Circuits In Uttar Pradesh", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.10, Issue 8, page no. ppg687-g693, August-2023, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2308678.pdf