Title: Harassment of religious visitors to Hindu temples in India

Authors: Vandita Hajra; Kaustav Nag

Addresses: Amity Institute of Travel & Tourism, Amity University Kolkata, Kolkata, 700135, West Bengal, India ' Amity Institute of Travel & Tourism, Amity University Kolkata, Kolkata, 700135, West Bengal, India

Abstract: Earlier researchers have concluded that travel to religious sites in the contemporary world is driven by varied motivations and the stakeholders involved must carefully address the varying expectations of different types of visitors. This study highlights an important aspect of harassment of visitors to religious sites that have remained largely unexplored in empirical studies. The study consisted of analysing TripAdvisor narratives of visitors reporting harassment experiences at Hindu temples in India using a hybrid content analysis approach. The results revealed the following eleven types of harassment: extortion by priests, fraud and fleecing, rude behaviour of temple staff, poor facilities and management, touting, aggressive selling by vendors, physical abuse, verb al abuse, persistence by beggars, sexual harassment, and human-animal conflict. The findings have significant managerial and theoretical implications for destination managers and researchers alike.

Keywords: visitor harassment; religious tourism; pilgrimages; pilgrimage tourism; Hindu temples in India; religious visitors.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTP.2023.129824

International Journal of Tourism Policy, 2023 Vol.13 No.2, pp.180 - 186

Received: 24 Oct 2021
Accepted: 04 Jan 2022
Published online: 31 Mar 2023 *

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