With the Mahakumbh scheduled to kick off on Monday, January 13, India’s tourism ministry unveiled a slew of facilities aimed at domestic and international tourists flocking to one of the largest religious congregations in the world.
The Kumbh Mela, held in a cycle of 12 years at one of the holy sites in India, attracts millions of pilgrims as well as tourists from across the world. This affords the central government to showcase the country’s sought-after cultural heritage and spiritual history.
For the 2025 edition of the Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, scheduled from January 13 to February 26, the tourism ministry set up a 5000sqft space called the “Incredible India Pavilion” for tourists, researchers, media, and Indian diaspora flocking to the venue to experience the event.
This year, among the tourists is Apple Inc founder Steve Jobs’s widow and one of the world’s wealthiest women, Lauren Powell. The founder of Emerson Collection, Powell, is expected to attend the Mahakumbh on January 29, and stay at the camp of the 1,700-year-old Shri Panchayati Taponidhi Niranjani akhara. An akhara is a spiritual institution where the members share the same guru.
Panchayati Bada Udasin akhara members perform rituals ahead of Mahakumbh 2025 at Prayagraj | AP
International visitors to the event can use the dedicated toll-free tourist hotline to know more about the event at 1800-11-1363. Apart from English and Indian languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Assamese, and Marathi, the tourist-care call facility is also available in ten different international languages, according to the tourism ministry.
International tourists at the banks of the river Ganga ahead of Mahakumbh 2025 at Prayagraj | PTI
For people covering the event, the ministry urged visitors to share their experiences on social media using “special hashtags such as #Mahakumbh2025 and #SpiritualPrayagraj”.
The union minister of tourism, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, shared a video on social media on Sunday, urging tourists and pilgrims alike to experience the Kumbh Mela in all its cultural fervour.
The Uttar Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation (UPSTDC), the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), and the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) have all come up with specialised packages for the event that spans more than six weeks.
The ITDC alone set up 80 luxury tents at the Tent City in Prayagraj. With more tourists expected this year, even IRCTC plans to provide luxury tents, the details of which can be availed at the regional and Indian tourism offices across the nation.
An aerial view of Tent City with luxury tents ahead of Mahakumbh 2025 at Prayagraj | PTI
The ministry also announced its tie-up with the designated Indian flag carrier, Alliance Air, to operate direct flights to Prayagraj from multiple cities around the world, including New Delhi, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Dehradun, Jabalpur, and Bilaspur.
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