Foreigners prefer visiting Ellora Caves than Ajanta Caves, why?

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

A drop in arrivals of foreign tourists at Ajanta Caves compared to Ellora Caves is becoming a matter of great concern and debate. This pushes the administrations concerned to jot down reasons for it and overcome them on priority to ease and increase the flow of foreign tourists at the painted caves.

During the COVID-19, tourist places in and around the city were deserted. However, now the tourist destinations are returning to their former state, and the number of foreign tourists has also increased once again. After a gap of three years to the pandemic, 2024 has seen the highest number of foreign tourists visiting the tourism capital - Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. However, what is more concerning is that compared to the world heritage Ajanta Caves (100 km away), foreigners have shown the most interest in visiting another world heritage Ellora Caves (30 km away).

Boxx

In 2024, over 23,000 foreigners visited Ellora Caves and more than 12,000 visited Ajanta Caves.

Foreign tourists at Ajanta Caves

Year- Number of Visitors

April 2021 - March 2022: 409

April 2022 - March 2023: 6,967

April 2023 - December 2023: 6,788

January 2024 - December 2024: 12,849

Foreign tourists at Ellora Caves

Year - Number of Visitors

April 2021 - March 2022: 605

April 2022 - March 2023: 10,744

April 2023 - December 2023: 8,933

January 2024 - December 2024: 23,976