An Exploratory Analysis of Activity Participation and Travel Patterns of Pilgrims in the World’s Largest Mass Religious Gathering: A Case Study of Kumbh Mela Ujjain, India

Over the last decade, activity-based travel demand modeling has proved to be a reliable tool for urban travel demand analysis. This paper aims to understand pilgrims’ travel behavior in a mass religious gathering using the activity-based approach. The focus here is the Kumbh Mela event of 2016 (22nd April to 21st May) held at Ujjain, India, considered the world’s largest human gathering and attracts pilgrims worldwide. Thus, the study’s focus is to present a detailed exploratory analysis of activity participation (episode frequency and time allocation to various activities) and activity-travel patterns (trip chain patterns) of pilgrims based on primary data collected using an activity-travel questionnaire survey. The results suggest that pilgrims follow intricate trip chain patterns while performing primary activities, such as offering prayer, holy dip, and visiting ghat, and then carrying out secondary activities, including recreation and discretionary activities. Primary and secondary activities in a religious context differ significantly from the conventional activity-based study in the transportation domain. The undertaken research is the first of its kind, and results provide insights on the understanding of crowd dynamics in mass religious gatherings at a macroscopic level.