The purpose of this paper is to examine the perspectives of local stakeholders on the role of religious tourism and the development process that alter the sacred space and religious heritage of Varanasi. Specific objectives include study local stakeholders' view on the motivation of visitors, the image of the city they carry home, role of infrastructure development altering sacredness of the city, major issues pertaining to conservation of the city's religious heritage and whether tourism dominates the sacred space of the city.,The present study follows the philosophical approach of constructionism and is an inductive study based on the ontological features of realism. The study is conducted using qualitative research design. Participants were purposely selected from different groups to provide representative data. through in-depth interviews with a set of 22 open-ended questions.,The study acknowledged the spatial changes happening in an old city over time. The portrayed image of Varanasi remains deeply rooted in the minds of pilgrims, whereas the tourist perspective often goes beyond the texts as an experience. The reflection of local stakeholders in the transformation of sacred space to tourist experiencescape as a consumable experience, which is influenced by market-driven forces is a major finding of the study.,Difficulties in finalising the respondents and building up the theoretical base, which is one of the main limitations of the study. During the process of data collection, the respondents mainly focussed upon the impacts of tourism on Varanasi, and the researchers made every effort to extract qualitative information on the current research. At times, some respondents hesitated to share their view on political influences in the development process, which restricted the authors to obtain righteous information, that could have contributed a better understanding of the deep-rooted issues of religious heritage conservation. Another limitation is that the perspectives of visitors have not been included in this research.,The study will contribute to the theoretical areas of tourism development in historic and sacred cities. As an interdisciplinary area, the selected theme of the study delves in to landscape planning, heritage preservation, tourism development in historic cities and more importantly how residents understand the changes happening in a scared environment. The present research opens opportunities for further researches such as social pressures and tourism development, urban morphology and its transformation in ancient cities and so on.,Varanasi is an ancient city in India, which is also the heartland of Hinduism. The study reveals the understanding of respondents on religious traditions, sentiments and the social values attached to a place. At the same time, it also highlights the role of tourism in generating an intercultural dialogue with local cultures, appreciating the sacred value of sites associated with religious sentiments.,The study addresses the role of tourism in altering the landscape of ancient city of Varanasi. The original view of respondents has been used in the article to maintain originality. There are several researches conducted on Varanasi, but the present study is conducted in a systematic way to gather the real understanding of local people. The study acknowledges the changes happening in the city along the course of time.

中文翻译：

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地方利益相关者对瓦拉纳西宗教遗产和旅游业发展的看法

本文的目的是研究当地利益相关者对宗教旅游业的作用和改变瓦拉纳西神圣空间和宗教遗产的发展过程的看法。具体目标包括研究当地利益相关者对游客动机，游客所居住城市的形象，基础设施建设改变城市神圣性的作用，与保护城市宗教遗产有关的重大问题以及旅游业是否主导神圣空间的观点本研究遵循建构主义的哲学方法，是基于现实主义本体论特征的归纳研究。该研究是使用定性研究设计进行的。故意从不同的小组中选择参与者以提供代表性数据。通过对22个开放性问题的深入访谈，该研究承认了随着时间的流逝，旧城区的空间变化。瓦拉纳西的刻画图像仍然深深扎根于朝圣者的心中，而游客的视角往往超越文字作为一种体验。该研究的主要发现是，当地利益相关者在将神圣空间向游客体验景观转化为消费体验的过程中受到市场驱动力的反映，这是该研究的主要发现。确定最终受访者和建立理论基础的难度很大。研究的主要局限之一。在数据收集过程中，受访者主要关注旅游业对瓦拉纳西的影响，研究人员已尽一切努力从当前研究中提取定性信息。有时，一些受访者会犹豫分享他们对发展过程中政治影响的看法，这限制了作者获得正义的信息，这可能有助于更好地理解宗教遗产保护的根深蒂固的问题。另一个限制是，游客的观点未包含在本研究中。该研究将为历史和神圣城市的旅游业发展提供理论领域。作为跨学科领域，研究的选定主题深入研究了景观规划，遗产保护，历史名城的旅游业发展，更重要的是，居民如何理解在可怕的环境中发生的变化。本研究为进一步研究提供了机会，例如社会压力和旅游业发展，瓦拉纳西是印度的一座古老城市，也是印度教的心脏地带。该研究揭示了受访者对某个地方的宗教传统，情感和社会价值的理解。同时，它也强调了旅游业在与当地文化进行跨文化对话中的作用，赞赏与宗教情感有关的遗址的神圣价值。该研究探讨了旅游业在改变瓦拉纳西古城景观中的作用。文章中使用了受访者的原始观点来保持独创性。关于瓦拉纳西的研究很多，但本次研究是系统地进行的，旨在收集对当地人的真实了解。