• OYO to plans to add 1000 rooms available for bookings across its hotels and homestays in Ayodhya in 2023  
• OYO is collaborating with Ayodhya Development Authority and Uttar Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation for its expansion plans in Ayodhya  
• OYO is betting big on religious corridors like Ayodhya to boost its expansion plans in India in 2023   

• OYO gets 40% customers from corporate and small businesses, 25% from families who are there to meet their relatives or see the city, 20% from pilgrims, 15% from events and new guests 

Global hospitality technology company OYO has announced that it plans to have approximately 1000 rooms available for bookings across its properties in Ayodhya by December 2023. OYO has earlier announced to add 50 hotels and homes in Ayodhya in 2023 and is now working towards increasing this number in order to achieve the target of rooms available for bookings.   

Focus on tourists’ convenience  

The new hotel rooms will be strategically located in close proximity to Ayodhya’s prominent landmarks, ensuring easy accessibility for visitors. Guests will have the opportunity to explore the city’s iconic attractions without compromising on convenience. 

OYO Rooms is partnering with Ayodhya Development Authority and Uttar Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation to start these properties in a time bound manner. 

Religious travel a growing opportunity  

OYO’s booking data reveals that it gets 40% of customers from corporate and small businesses, 25% from families who are there to meet their relatives or see the city, 20% from pilgrims, 15% from events and new guests. In Ayodhya, the percentage of religious travelers booking their accommodation in OYO is expected to be much higher.  

OYO is focusing in expanding its footprints across all the religious corridors in India with the rise of spiritual tourism. OYO’s Cultural Travel 2022 Round-up Report highlighted that spiritual travel is a key contributor to the domestic travel recovery in India. 

The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data says that the temple economy in India is booming. It is worth Rs 3.02 lakh crore and 2.32 percent of GDP. The NSSO figures suggest that 55 percent of Hindus undertake religious pilgrimages patronizing mid and small sized hotels. The report also says that more than 36 per cent Muslims, 35 per cent Christians, and 72 per cent Sikhs are likely to undertake religious tourism from 2022 to 2027. The report concludes that Indians do more pilgrimage than business trips and spend more on pilgrimage than traveling for education purposes. 

Religious travel in Ayodhya expected to grow  

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. In 2017 approximately 1.5 crore tourists visited Ayodhya, and 2 crores 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 and make it a spiritual centre with a global appeal like the Vatican City and Mecca. 

Sharing more details on the expansion plans in Ayodhya, Anuj Tejpal, Chief Merchant Officer, OYO said “Ayodhya is the top spiritual city in our plans of expanding OYO footprints across major religious corridors in India. We have made a robust expansion plan for Ayodhya after multiple rounds of meetings with the government to understand their key requirements and concerns. We have started onboarding hotels and homestays already and are delighted to see the positive response from the local hotel owners”.  

Dasmeet Singh, Hub Head, Uttar Pradesh, OYO added “OYO is committed to fostering strong partnerships with local hoteliers in Ayodhya, contributing to the growth and development of the region’s hospitality sector. We aim to support the local economy and promote Ayodhya as a prominent tourist destination with this expansion plan”. 

OYO data from January to September 2022 reveals that revenue of hotels onboarded on OYO platform doubled within three months compared to independent budget hotels of a similar size. OYO 360, a self-onboarding tool, provides a simple two-click platform to enroll hotel owners on its platform and provides three types of benefits – growth benefits, partnership benefits, and OYO network benefits.