Chapter 11: The Role of Social Media as a Promotional Tool in Developing Religious Tourism in Odisha

There has been an exponential rise in the growth of religious tourism over the last two decades. The travellers in an attempt to bring their bodies and minds into alignment, tend to gravitate towards various religious sites. Today, with worry, anxiety, fears, and despair becoming frequent, it has become critical to travel to select locations that provide tourists with calm or a connection with the divine. The chapter aims to investigate the influence of social media in developing and promoting religious tourism destinations in Odisha and provide solutions to possible problems that may arise in this regard. The study uses a qualitative approach and is primarily based on a review of pertinent literature about the role social media plays in promoting tourist destinations. This study reveals that social media networking sites have a significant influence on how religious places are marketed and how tourists make their final decisions. Nowadays, people use social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to share their vacation experiences with millions of other people who wish to have the same experience. This new kind of ‘word-of-mouth’ marketing. Thus, social media plays a prominent role in promoting any tourism destination, and with the help of social media, Odisha can also get increased revenue for the religious tourism sector. The study is also useful for tourism practitioners as it proposes a suitable framework within which effective social media marketing strategies can be undertaken to draw travellers to India’s sacred sites.