All religions be it islam Christianity or Hinduism lay great emphasis on the sanctity of certain places and enjoin pilgrimage to them. Large rivers mountains and forests have always been venerated as the abodes of gods.
Ancient Sutras and old Smrtis like Manu and Yajnavalkya do not attach importance to Tirthas but the later literature on this branch of Dharmasastra is very extensive. The Mahabharata regards pilgrimage to Tirthas more meritorious than sacrifices.
Hence it was natural that Puranas and digests on Tirthas vied with one another in glorifying their respective Tirthas. The Skanda Purana is not one book but a library of such Sthaal Puranas or Tirtha Mahatmyas.
Hence its importance for researches in different disciplines. The great oriental scholar Dr. Jan Gonda has succinctly emphasized the importance of these sthala puranas in his Medieval religious literature in Sanskrit as follows.
Vedas (1298)
Upanishads (482)
Puranas (613)
Ramayana (840)
Mahabharata (328)
Dharmasastras (162)
Goddess (473)
Bhakti (242)
Saints (1320)
Gods (1268)
Shiva (344)
Journal (145)
Fiction (52)
Vedanta (337)
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