A STUDY OF EXPECTATIONS OF THE VISITORS TO SEVERAL RELIGIOUS TOURISM CENTRES IN THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

Maharashtra, a state in India, having residents of almost all prominent religions like Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism respectively, has a heterogenous composition of religious centres. Religious tourism is the most popular form of tourism in India. Since the religious practices and visits to various religious centres are rapidly gaining popularity, studying the expectations of the devotees from such religious tourism centres would prove to be salubrious to the management of such centres as well as to the visitors. There is a need to bridge the gap between the expectation of facilities by the visitors and the provision of such facilities from the management's side. This paper is an attempt to understand the expectation of the facilities by the visitors to the various religious tourism centres. This will help to understand the need for further infrastructural development as well as other facilities offered by such centres.