Gen Z, social media helping fuel spiritual tourism in India
Al Jazeera
Spiritual tourism is seeing a boom in India thanks to the wide reach of social media and better transport connectivity.
Varanasi, India – In India, some members of Generation Z prefer temples over nightclubs.
Shivam Dwivedi, a native of Prayagraj district in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, prays at a neighbourhood temple at least twice a week.
The 19-year-old and his friends have shunned trips to beach and party destinations popular with this age group. Instead, Dwivedi and his friends Saurabh Shukla, 21, and Anand Dwivedi, 20, prefer to visit important Hindu shrines, some in remote corners of the country.
The friends, who are studying engineering, told Al Jazeera they get mental peace and find a “source of energy” on their trips to religious places.
“We feel a connect with the divine. … There is a source of energy that flows inside us that gives us mental peace as pressure of education and career building often becomes too hectic to handle,” Shukla told Al Jazeera while standing in line outside Kashi Vishwanath Temple in the holy city of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
