Mussoorie, June 22 -- Over 3.3 million pilgrims have visited the Char Dham shrines since the beginning of the yatra on April 30 this season, as per the data released by the state emergency control centre till Friday evening. As per the data, 33,13,968 pilgrims visited Char Dham shrines, including Hemkund Sahib, with 60,655 pilgrims visiting on Friday. However, 4.8 million pilgrims visited the Char Dham shrines and the Hemkund Sahib shrine since the opening of the portals on May 10 in 2024. Out of 4.8 million pilgrims who visited Char Dham shrines, 1.42 million visited Badrinath, 183,722 visited Hemkund Sahib shrine, 1.65 million visited Kedarnath, 0.81 million visited Gangotri Dham, and 0.71 million visited Yamunotri Dham. In Chamoli district, Badrinath Dham, which opened on May 4 this year, a total of 925,629 pilgrims visited the shrine, with 19,748 pilgrims visiting on Friday. A total of 148,946 pilgrims visited Hemkund Sahib shrine, which opened on May 25, while 6,739 people visited on Friday. In Rudraprayag district, the daily pilgrim number was highest at Kedarnath shrine with 1,185,001 pilgrims visiting so far, with 19,315 footfall recorded on Friday since the opening of the shrine on May 2. In Uttarkashi district for Gangotri, which opened on April 30, the pilgrims' count reached 528,573 so far, with 7,543 devotees visiting on Friday. The Yamunotri shrine also opened on April 30, and saw 520,923 pilgrims, with 7,240 people visiting on Friday. The experts from the hospitality industry have attributed the dip in the number of pilgrims to several factors, which include the Mahakumbh mela in Prayagraj, the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor with the start of the yatra season this year. Ajay Puri, the president of Char Dham Hotel association, said, "The Char Dham Yatra hotel bookings that were 100% earlier saw an initial drop in pilgrims' numbers immediately after the Pahalgam attack and the aftermath of Operation Sindoor and the heightened India-Pakistan tensions in the initial weeks of May." The hotel bookings for the whole yatra season were affected, which came down to 40% to 50%, and the introduction of the OTP system during the online registration also discouraged many tour operators who opted out of the Char Dham yatra journey as they could not make plans in advance." The Maha Kumbh Mela 2025, held from January 13 to February 26, in Prayagraj, that attracted unprecedented number of devotees, also led to the dip in the number as pilgrims particularly from the upper middle class who might otherwise have planned a Char Dham Yatra in Uttarakhand preferred to exhaust their resources for the rare event of Maha Kumbh and opting out of Char Dham yatra this year, said Ajay Puri. "The dip in number was not only due to "Operation Sindoor" itself, the general atmosphere of heightened security and recent incidents of helicopter crashes have also led to partial disruption and inconvenience for pilgrims relying on these services," said Shailendra Matura president Hotel association Uttarkashi....