Mapping the Sacred Landscape: Pilgrim Perceptions of Key Pilgrimage Sites in the Rohilkhand Region of Uttar Pradesh, India

DOI: 10.22161/ijeab.116.1

Abstract:
Pilgrimage tourism is among the oldest forms of travel in India, the pilgrimage scene in the Rohilkhand region of Uttar Pradesh has not been studied systematically as much as the pilgrimage circuits of Varanasi, Haridwar or Mathura etc. have. The present paper focuses on the objective of hotel industry in pilgrimage tourism which is to study the main pilgrim centers of Rohilkhand from the perspective of the pilgrims who visit these centres. Primary data have been obtained by designing a structured questionnaire which was distributed among 300 pilgrims at the selected sites in Bareilly, Morada₹bad, Badaun, Rampur and Pilibhit. The instrument consisted of seven items of demographics and twelve items of five-point Likert statements grouped into three dimensions: Site Abundance and Diversity (SAD), Religious and Heritage Significance (RHS) and Accessibility, Visibility and Endorsement (AV). The analysis of data was carried out with the use of frequencies, Cronbach's alpha, descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, one-sample t-test and one-way ANOVA tests using IBM SPSS Statistics. All three scales were reliable (α = 0.76 to 0.86). The importance of the sites was considered to be most significant (M = 3.92), followed by their abundance and diversity (M = 3.65), and then their accessibility and visibility (M = 3.31). Site significance was significantly higher than 3 (p < .001), and did not differ significantly among the five cities (F = 1.23, p = .298) while perceptions were positively correlated with site significance (r = .397). The results indicate that Rohilkhand is perceived as a holy land with legitimate authority in need of access, information and facilities – this is where the hotel industry fits in.

Keywords:
pilgrimage tourism, Rohilkhand, Uttar Pradesh, religious tourism, pilgrimage sites, pilgrim perception, SPSS

Article Info:
Received: 25 Sep 2026; Received in revised form: 23 Oct 2026; Accepted: 30 Oct 2026; Available online: 05 Nov 2026

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