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Religious Tourism: What is it and why is it so important?

Religious tourism is one of the earliest forms of tourism and is a fast growing market. Here, Peter Wiltshier, Consultant Researcher Community & Tourism Development NZ at Research Consultancy NZ, New Zealand , explains what it is and why it is so important.

View to Jerusalem old city, Israel

What is religious tourism?

Religious tourism has taken place since the dawn of civilisation. Pilgrims travelled to pay homage to the sacred places and their guardians throughout the world. Tourism to sacred sites has merged with pilgrimage in the past 2,000 years. More recently, in the past 200 years wealthy Europeans visited special sites of sacred ritual in both the New World and throughout Europe.

Why is it so important?

Sites of special sacred significance have been visited for millennia. What is now important is that these sites need protection, conservation and interpretation. There are few guardians of these special places of worship and visitation and even fewer sources of funds to maintain and manage sites for visitors and worshippers. We do make a distinction between worshippers and visitors, as the religious sites cater for both in roughly equal amounts at some very special places like Lourdes in France and Fatima in Portugal.

Religious tourism in history

The management of religious tourism presents many challenges that are unique in both breadth and application. Sites of religious significance have existed since biblical times and pilgrimage in the Judeo-Christian context is mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible, for example, in the story of Elkanah, who travels annually to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice (1 Samuel 1:1-28). It is also present in the New Testament Pentecost story, when Jews from all over the world went to Jerusalem for the Passover (Acts 2: 1-12). Many of these sites still exist and other sites, although not as old, have considerable heritage value. The management of heritage sites present particular problems, one of which relates to the cost of maintenance.

Managing sites of religious tourism

Most religious sites are owned by religious organisations, and this may cause challenges for their management, as they must balance the needs of worshippers with those of their visitors. Mosques are at the centre of Islamic tourism and are visited by both Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Muslims may visit mosques while travelling as a tourist attraction or as a place of worship. Many mosques have a dual role, functioning as both a place of worship and as a community centre. The role of community centre means that the mosque will be open for functions and festivities that are not strictly religious in nature and may include non-Muslims.

Muslim countries, such as those in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) welcome tourism, especially religious tourism. But they make a distinction between pilgrimage, the most well know being the Hajj, and other forms of religious tourism. While non-Muslims are welcome at sites such as mosques, they are not welcome at the Hajj. The Hajj is one of the most important forms of pilgrimage today with millions of Muslims travelling to Makkah (Mecca) in Saudi Arabia and, without question, the most important Muslim pilgrimage. It is therefore important to distinguish between Muslim travellers to Muslim sites and non-Muslim visitors to these sites. For example, it is not acceptable for non-Muslims to enter the region of Hejaz where the cities of Mecca and Medina are located. There is some conflict related to ‘ownership’ of these sites, and this is discussed below. Other religions have similar problems in relation to conflicting motivations.

Visitors and worshippers

One of the conflicts that has been noted is between visitors to religious sites and worshippers. While many visitors see worshippers as part of the experience, some worshippers do not like the feeling of being observed. Worshippers do not want to feel that they are part of a ‘show’, but are happy to share their religious space, and are proud of the architecture and history that attracts visitors to the site. Sacredness does not readily cross cultural boundaries. What is viewed as sacred by one group, such as congregants, may be seen as culturally interesting by another visitor group. Given that some visitors may wish to engage in worship, Church authorities may need to determine when a request to participate in a service should be accepted as an expression of genuine interest and/or intention.

Developing sites of special significance requires the dissemination and sharing of both intellectual and practical contributions to meet those needs in a planned and stakeholder-driven approach. Traditional approaches to development emerged half a century ago with a focus on core competencies and the agreed understanding that open and fair competition would raise quality and assure reasonable profit margins. It is important to create awareness of services and products and map those to marketing practices.

Analysis and synthesis through primary research enable cleric and manager to grasp visitors’ and worshippers’ needs and develop audiences for sites. In the book, we present the importance of maintenance and plans for developing sites to accommodate factors in both internal and external environments that acknowledge the requirement to remain competitive.

How can religious tourism sites stay competitive?

The importance of networks, grappling with the wider community and perhaps establishing a wider, even global, reach, is appraised as important. In seeking to tap into resources traditionally not employed in managing religious and pilgrimage sites, we elevate the need for an enterprise culture.

Our book features great practices for supporting tourism to sites of worship and pilgrimage from China and Nepal through to Salt Lake City, Australia and diverse but important sites in England, Hungary, Spain, and Ireland. Emerging practices in festival and event management at these sites are coupled with new interpretation through the use of virtual reality technology. Emerging good practices for emulation come with sites that are now employing funding managers prepared to manage the risks of increased visitation against the pressures to conserve and protect the ancient sites at the centre of the visitor experience.

This post also appears on the University of Derby blog .

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PR No. : PR 16090

Under the title ‘Religious Heritage and Tourism,’ Utrech in the Netherlands hosted a 2-day UNWTO Conference on 5-7 October to underline the potential of this segment to promote the growth of the sector while fostering cultural understanding. The Conference was held in cooperation with the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, the Museum Catharijneconvent, the Centre for Religious Art and Culture (Flanders) and the Dutch Future for Religious Heritage Program Future for Religious Heritage.

“We suffer from deficits of different kind, being the lack of tolerance and understanding, a major one. Religious tourism is one of the driving forces to bring people from varied backgrounds together under a common cause: the admiration and protection of heritage of tangible and intangible nature,” said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, at the inauguration of the event.

The issues of heritage conservation were a major topic of discussion, particularly in those cases where congestion constitutes a key challenge.

The Conference underlined the contribution of religious tourism to economic prosperity and the role of religious tourism as an added value to the offer of cities, villages and regions. In this respect, the event focused on developing methodologies to assess the social and economic impact of religious heritage tourism and strategies to develop these sites as authentic travel destinations.

Other topics discussed included marketing strategies to improve access to information related to religious heritage tourism, the role of religious communities to promote religious heritage, the importance of investing in new technologies and capacity building and the role of historic commemorations in promoting religious tourism.

Additional information:

Website of the Conference

Programme of the event

Photos of the Event

UNWTO Media Officer Rut Gomez Sobrino

Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60 / [email protected]

UNWTO Communications & Publications Programme

Tel: (+34) 91 567 8100 / Fax: +34 91 567 8218 / [email protected]

EBRD Communications Adviser Nibal Zgheib

Tel: (+44) 207 338 7753 [email protected]

Religious Tourism

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First Online: 01 January 2022
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Veenus Jain 5

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Indian Religions ((EIR))

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Religious tourism or pilgrimage unlike tourism which is an outer journey in geographical space primarily for the purpose of pleasure seeking or curiosity is in the traditional sense an inner journey manifest in exterior space in which the immanent and the transcendent together form a complex phenomenon [ 1 ]. Generally speaking, human beings need both – outward and inward journeys. Hinduism, or more appropriately San ā tana Dharma (“the eternal religion”), has a strong and ancient tradition of pilgrimage, known as tirtha-y ā tr ā (“tour of the sacred fords”), which formerly connoted pilgrimage involving holy baths in water bodies as a symbolic purification ritual. Faith is central to the desires, vows, and acts associated with pilgrimage, and pilgrimage is a process whereby people attempt to understand the cosmos around them [ 1 ]. The number of Hindu sanctuaries in India is so large and the practice of pilgrimage so ubiquitous that the whole of India can be regarded as a vast sacred space...

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Singh RPB (2006) Pilgrimage in hinduism, historical context and modern perspectives. In: Timothy DJ, Olsen DH (eds) Tourism, religion, and spiritual journeys. Routledge, London/New York, pp 220–236

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Department of Religion and Asian Studies, Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA, USA

Jeffery D. Long

The Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA, USA

Rita D. Sherma

Department of Humanities & Languages, Philosophy & Religious Studies, The India Centre, FLAME University, Pune, India

Pankaj Jain

Centre for the Study of Comparative Religions and Civilizations, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India

Madhu Khanna

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Jain, V. (2022). Religious Tourism. In: Long, J.D., Sherma, R.D., Jain, P., Khanna, M. (eds) Hinduism and Tribal Religions. Encyclopedia of Indian Religions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1188-1_218

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Buddhism and Religious Tourism by Courtney Bruntz LAST REVIEWED: 28 July 2015 LAST MODIFIED: 28 July 2015 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195393521-0133

The relationship between Buddhism and religious tourism has increasingly become an important topic with diverse academic fields. Across Asia, locations and physical sites associated with Buddhism or the historical Buddha are now part of tourism circuits, and early-21st-century tourism developments have contributed to the revitalization of Buddhist sites. Traditional models of tourism and pilgrimage have separated the pilgrim from the tourist, with pilgrimage referring to explicit religious activities and tourism meaning nonreligious secular ones. Early-21st-century works have included studies merging the two categories, arguing that in modern settings, pilgrims are becoming more like tourists and tourists are becoming more like pilgrims. This has resulted in studies on religious tourism, sometimes called “spiritual tourism,” that refer to any travel motivated by religion, where the site at one point was associated with a religion. Religious tourism in this manner encompasses activities both associated and not associated with pilgrimage to a sacred site, including sightseeing, cultivation, and recreation. Religious tourism has also come to include activities related to culture consumption that occur at religious sites. Because of these diverse activities associated with religious tourism, literature is increasingly amalgamating the tourist and the pilgrim, and ethnographic studies are prevalent.

Introductory Works

The topic of religious tourism has long been a contested issue, and works since the end of the 20th century have been published regarding the settings in which tourists and pilgrims become like one another and the situations that separate the tourist from the pilgrim. The rise of anthropology of tourism has helped these efforts, with initiating studies that place tourists within the realm of pilgrims. Smith 1989 showcases anthropologists looking seriously at tourism and the movements of tourists, which has helped initiate studies comparing tourism and pilgrimage by identifying tourism as a form of sacred journey. Badone and Roseman 2004 , as well as Morinis 1992 , contributes to the anthropological analysis of pilgrimage and tourism by looking at case studies and theories to decipher diverse meanings of religious tourism. These efforts have also been taken up by sociologists, who have added insight into the economic and sociocultural aspects affecting the movements of tourists. Sociological studies have taken different approaches, with MacCannell 1999 and Sharpley 2008 looking at theoretical matters regarding tourism and Cohen 2004 writing about case studies. Read together, these works contextualize theories of religiously motivated travel, the reasons why people undertake it, attached meanings and values, and its role in diverse societies. Works such as Smith, et al. 2010 and Timothy 2011 aid the sociological perspective by incorporating cultural studies. Both of these consider tourism from the standpoint of heritage, which contributes to understanding how religious tourism relates to broader conceptions of culture. Founded in 2013, the International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage is dedicated to interdisciplinary and international studies of religious tourism and provides a significant resource for scholars. These sources aid studies on Buddhism and religious tourism by offering ways of conceptualizing motivated travel, and anthropological and sociological theories regarding the motivations of tourists provide initial frameworks for investigating relationships between Buddhism and tourism.

Badone, Ellen, and Sharon R. Roseman, eds. Intersecting Journeys: The Anthropology of Pilgrimage and Tourism . Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004.

A collection of papers that evaluates the connections between pilgrimage and tourism, as well as considering debates regarding movement, social identities, and the negotiation of meanings.

Cohen, Erik. Contemporary Tourism: Diversity and Change . Oxford: Elsevier, 2004.

Bringing together Cohen’s works from the previous three decades, this collection provides articles on the sociology of tourism. Cohen’s work interfaces tourism and religion, and provides several case studies for considering tourism’s future developments.

MacCannell, Dean. The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class . Tourism Social Science. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.

A sociological evaluation of tourism as a modern substitute for religion, and tourism as the pilgrimage of modern times.

Morinis, Alan, ed. Sacred Journeys: The Anthropology of Pilgrimage . Contributions to the Study of Anthropology 7. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1992.

Combines theoretical issues with case studies to represent a broad selection of pilgrimage traditions. Contributes to the analysis of pilgrimage in general, as well as discussions of pilgrimage and tourism.

Sharpley, Richard. Tourism, Tourists and Society . Huntingdon, UK: Elm, 2008.

Introduces basic sociological theories and their relevance to tourism and examines the major themes and issues concerning the social nature of tourism. It explores the relationship between tourism and society from two perspectives: the influence of society on tourism and the influence of tourism on society.

Smith, Valene L., ed. Hosts and Guests: The Anthropology of Tourism . 2d ed. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989.

DOI: 10.9783/9780812208016

This major anthropological work consists of papers considering tourism from multiple angles. It is one of the first anthologies to theorize tourist activities, laying the framework for later works regarding anthropology and tourism.

Smith, Melanie, Nicola MacLeod, and Margaret Hart Robertson. Key Concepts in Tourist Studies . SAGE Key Concepts. London: SAGE, 2010.

Tackles diverse topics, including anthropology of tourism, cultural tourism, heritage tourism, festivals and events tourism, religious and spiritual tourism, and sociology of tourism. Presents key concepts within the field of tourist studies.

Timothy, Dallen J. Cultural Heritage and Tourism: An Introduction . Aspects of Tourism Texts. Tonawanda, NY: Channel View, 2011.

Divided between broad conceptions of heritage tourism in the beginning, and research experience in the second half, this work details consuming culture as heritage and the positions of museums, archaeological sites, landscapes, and religious places. It is useful for placing religious tourism within other currents of tourism research.

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Pilgrimage tourism-past, present and future rejuvenation: a perspective article

Tourism Review

ISSN : 1660-5373

Article publication date: 25 November 2019

Issue publication date: 20 February 2020

This paper aims to analyse the development of the pilgrimage phenomenon over the past few decades. Pilgrimage was the first tourism mobility to come into existence thousands of years ago. In recent decades, its significance has decreased, as other tourism segments have gained prominence. Although modern tourism is regarded as a relatively new phenomenon, its origins are clearly rooted in the age-old practice of pilgrimage. Indeed, the development of tourism is difficult to understand without a thorough comprehension of the practice of pilgrimage in ancient times.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper analyses the development of the pilgrimage phenomenon over the past few decades. The phenomenon of Pilgrimage Tourism and the nexus between the two mobilities has been experiencing tremendous changes over the past few decades and is still in the midst of an on-going process of transformation.

This paper concludes with the prediction that pilgrimage will re-emerge when the many similar segments – particularly, spiritual tourism, heritage tourism, religious tourism, dark tourism and secular pilgrimage – are re-identified as pilgrimage: a mobility for the search for meaning that contains an element of transformation that is often deep and enduring (as they were viewed at the dawn of humanity and for thousands of years).

Originality/value

This review has examined the development of pilgrimage tourism as a research topic, highlighting the importance of re-examining our contemporary usage of terms in order to allow for broader interpretations of different phenomena in the field of tourism. These conclusions are consistent with the current calls for a fundamental rethinking of the paradigms and the norms shaping scholarship on pilgrimage, dark tourism and tourism as a whole from a post-disciplinary perspective based on synthesis and synergy.

Dark tourism
Pilgrimage tourism
Religious tourism
Secular pilgrimage

Collins-Kreiner, N. (2020), "Pilgrimage tourism-past, present and future rejuvenation: a perspective article", Tourism Review , Vol. 75 No. 1, pp. 145-148. https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-04-2019-0130

Emerald Publishing Limited

Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

Introduction

Pilgrimage was the first tourism mobility to come into existence thousands of years ago ( Timothy and Olsen, 2006 ). Although modern tourism is regarded as a relatively new phenomenon, its origins are clearly rooted in the age-old practice of pilgrimage. Indeed, the development of tourism is difﬁcult to understand without a thorough comprehension of the practice of pilgrimage in ancient times.

This brief piece analyses the development of the pilgrimage phenomenon over the past few decades and concludes with the prediction that pilgrimage will re-emerge when the many similar segments – particularly, spiritual tourism, heritage tourism, religious tourism, dark tourism, and secular pilgrimage – are re-identified as pilgrimage: a mobility for the search for meaning that contains an element of transformation that is often deep and enduring (as they were viewed at the dawn of humanity and for thousands of years).

The phenomenon of Pilgrimage Tourism and the nexus between the two mobilities has been experiencing tremendous changes over the past few decades and is still in the midst of an on-going process of transformation.

A past perspective on pilgrimage tourism research: from the 1960s through the 2010s

Pilgrimage as a research concept, as distinct from a market segment, hardly existed before the 1990s. Its roots, however, reach back to concepts and theories – developed primarily by sociologists and anthropologists – that were analysed in the tourism literature of the 1970s and the 1980s and that focussed on the “visitor experience” and the psychosocial dynamics that drive different kinds of tourism, including pilgrimage ( Cohen, 1979 ; 1992a , 1992b ; 1998 ; Jackson and Hudman, 1995 ; MacCannell, 1973 ; Turner and Turner, 1969 , 1978 ).

Several fundamental social ideas that featured in the study of pilgrimage in those years were: the “ritual process” ( Turner and Turner, 1969 ); the holy site as the centre of the world ( Eliade, 1969 ); “liminality”, a transitory stage between two established social statuses ( Turner and Turner, 1969 ); “Communitas”, a specific kind of group dynamics that are characteristic of assemblies of pilgrims ( Turner and Turner, 1978 ); tourism as a quest for the “authentic”, representing the pilgrimage of modern man ( MacCannell, 1973 ); tourism as a “sacred journey” ( Graburn, 1977 ) ; and five main modes of tourist experience based on the location and significance of the given experience within the tourist’s overall worldview ( Cohen, 1979 ).

In the 1990s, new ideas and concepts were incorporated into pilgrimage research, including: a continuum of travel from “pilgrim as a religious traveller” to “tourist” as a vacationer ( Smith, 1992 ); the heterogeneity of pilgrimage and pilgrimage as an arena for competing religious and secular discourses ( Eade and Sallnow, 1991 ); two different types of pilgrimage centres – the formal and the popular ( Cohen, 1992a ); the complex relationship between pilgrimage and tourism and the similarities and differences between the tourist and the pilgrim ( Cohen, 1998 ; Digance, 2003 ; Shinde, 2015 ); the relationship among religion, pilgrimage, and tourism ( Timothy and Olsen, 2006 ); and de-differentiation ( Collins-Kreiner, 2010 , 2016 ).

Beginning in the 2000s, the definition of pilgrimage has come to accommodate both traditional religious and modern secular journeys, as researchers began to discuss the modern ideas of pilgrimage in the context of spiritual rather than religious motivations and actions. As more and more research has shown, large numbers of tourists are seeking a variety of experiences, including enlightenment, knowledge, improved spiritual and physical well-being and challenge. During this period, scholars have generated new knowledge about secular pilgrimage sites and secular aspects of pilgrimage research ( Hyde and Harman, 2011 ). The current literature understands pilgrimage as a holistic phenomenon with religious and secular foundations ( Collins-Kreiner, 2016 ) that encompasses sites that can emerge from both religious and secular contexts.

A future perspective: the rejuvenation of pilgrimage tourism

Based on the above analysis, it appears that pilgrimage is currently in a stage of rejuvenation and is therefore in the process of losing some of its unique attributes – in our case, its religious attributes, which constituted the original basis of its identity as a distinct type of tourism – and is simultaneously developing new identities, such as secular pilgrimage, spiritual tourism, religious tourism, church tourism, dark tourism and transformational tourism ( Collins-Kreiner, 2016 ; Kiely, 2013 ).

Over the past decade, the word “pilgrimage” has become widely used in broad secular contexts. Scholars have begun to think about other forms of pilgrimage, such as spiritual tourists; “New Age” spiritual travel for pilgrimage, personal growth, and non-traditional spiritual practices; and increasing research on modern secular pilgrimage, in which the search for the miraculous is a trait shared by religious and secular pilgrims alike ( Digance, 2003 ). All pilgrims are engaged in a quest for a mystical or magical religious experience – a moment when they experience something out of the ordinary that marks a transition from the mundane secular world of their everyday existence to a special and sacred state. These experiences can be described as transformation, enlightenment and life-changing or consciousness-changing events, although words appear to be inadequate to truly describe such experiences, which often defy reason ( Kim and Kim, 2018 ; Liutikas, 2015 ).

Thus, in the past few years, new identities and concepts such as dark-tourism, spiritual tourism, and other market segments have developed and a number of sources have noted an increasing interest in tourism focussing on death, disaster and horror ( Stone, 2012 ; Lennon and Foley, 2000 ; Stone and Sharpley, 2008 ). Dark tourism, for example, is part of the rejuvenation of pilgrimage, as they both emerge from the same milieu to include the sites of dramatic historic events that hold extra meaning ( Collins-Kreiner, 2016 ).

Also noteworthy is the fact that the current literature is finding it increasingly difficult to differentiate among religious pilgrims, secular pilgrims, dark tourists, heritage tourists and pilgrimage, as they all are recognised as part of the growing phenomenon of tourist interest in sites that add meaning to life ( Amaro et al. , 2018 ; Collins-Kreiner, 2016 ; Terzidou et al. , 2017 ).

Conclusions

This review has examined the development of pilgrimage tourism as a research topic, highlighting the importance of re-examining our contemporary usage of terms in order to allow for broader interpretations of different phenomena in the field of tourism. These conclusions are consistent with the current calls for a fundamental rethinking of the paradigms and the norms shaping scholarship on pilgrimage ( Eade and Albera, 2015 ), dark tourism ( Stone, 2012 ) and tourism as a whole ( Winter, 2009 ) from a post-disciplinary perspective based on synthesis and synergy.

Amaro , S. , Antunes , A. and Henriques , C. ( 2018 ), “ A closer look at Santiago de compostela's pilgrims through the lens of motivations ”, Tourism Management , Vol. 64 , pp. 271 - 280 .

Cohen , E. ( 1979 ), “ Rethinking the sociology of tourism ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 6 No. 1 , pp. 18 - 35 .

Cohen , E. ( 1992a ), “ Pilgrimage centers: concentric and excentric ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 19 No. 1 , pp. 33 - 50 .

Cohen , E. ( 1992b ), “ Pilgrimage and tourism: convergence and divergence ”, in Morinis , A. (Ed.), Sacred Journeys: The Anthropology of Pilgrimage , Greenwood Press , New York, NY , pp. 47 - 61 .

Cohen , E. ( 1998 ), “ Tourism and religion: a comparative perspective ”, Paciﬁc Tourism Review , Vol. 2 , pp. 1 - 10 .

Collins-Kreiner , N. ( 2010 ), “ Researching pilgrimage: continuity and transformations ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 37 No. 2 , pp. 440 - 456 .

Collins-Kreiner , N. ( 2016 ), “ Life cycle of concepts: the case of pilgrimage tourism ”, Tourism Geographies , Vol. 18 No. 3 , pp. 322 - 334 .

Digance , J. ( 2003 ), “ Pilgrimage at contested sites ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 30 No. 1 , pp. 143 - 159 .

Eade , J. and Albera , D. (Eds) ( 2015 ), International Perspectives on Pilgrimage Studies: Itineraries, Gaps and Obstacles , Routledge , New York, NY .

Eade , J. and Sallnow , M.J. (Eds) ( 1991 ), Contesting the Sacred: The Anthropology of Christian Pilgrimage , Routledge , London .

Eliade , M. ( 1969 ), The Quest: History and Meaning in Religion , University of Chicago Press , Chicago, IL .

Graburn , N.H.H. ( 1977 ), “ Tourism: the sacred journey ”, in Smith , V.L. (Ed.), Hosts and Guests: The Anthropology of Tourism , University of Pennsylvania Press , Philadelphia , pp. 17 - 31 .

Hyde , K.F. and Harman , S. ( 2011 ), “ Motives for a secular pilgrimage to the gallipoli battleﬁelds ”, Tourism Management , Vol. 32 No. 6 , pp. 1343 - 1351 .

Jackson , R.H. and Hudman , L. ( 1995 ), “ Pilgrimage tourism and english cathedrals: the role of religion in travel ”, The Tourist Review , Vol. 50 No. 4 , pp. 40 - 48 .

Kiely , T. ( 2013 ), “ Tapping into mammon: stakeholder perspectives on developing church tourism in Dublin's liberties ”, Tourism Review , Vol. 68 No. 2 , pp. 31 - 43 .

Kim , B. and Kim , S. ( 2018 ), “ Hierarchical value map of religious tourists visiting the vatican city/rome ”, Tourism Geographies , pp. 1 - 22 .

Lennon , J. and Foley , M. ( 2000 ), Dark Tourism the Attraction of Death and Disaster , Cengage learning EMEA , London .

Liutikas , D. ( 2015 ), “ In search of miracles: pilgrimage to the miraculous places ”, Tourism Review , Vol. 70 No. 3 , pp. 197 - 213 .

MacCannell , D. ( 1973 ), “ Staged authenticity: arrangements of social space in tourist settings ”, American Journal of Sociology , Vol. 793 , pp. 589 - 603 .

Shinde , K.A. ( 2015 ), “ Religious tourism and religious tolerance: insights from pilgrimage sites in India ”, Tourism Review , Vol. 70 No. 3 , pp. 179 - 196 .

Smith , V.L. ( 1992 ), “ Introduction: the quest in guest ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 19 No. 1 , pp. 1 - 17 .

Stone , P.R. ( 2012 ), “ Dark tourism and signiﬁcant other death: towards a model of mortality mediation ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 39 No. 3 , pp. 1565 - 1587 .

Stone , P. and Sharpley , R. ( 2008 ), “ Consuming dark tourism: a thanatolological perspective ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 35 No. 2 , pp. 574 - 595 .

Terzidou , M. , Scarles , C. and Saunders , M.N. ( 2017 ), “ Religiousness as tourist performances: a case study of Greek orthodox pilgrimage ”, Annals of Tourism Research , Vol. 66 , pp. 116 - 129 .

Timothy , D.J. and Olsen , D.H. (Eds) ( 2006 ), Tourism, Religion and Spiritual Journeys , Routledge , London and New York, NY .

Turner , V. and Turner , E. ( 1969 ), The Ritual Process , Routledge , London .

Turner , V. and Turner , E. ( 1978 ), Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture , Colombia University Press , New York, NY .

Winter , T. ( 2009 ), “ Asian tourism and the retreat of Anglo-Western centrism in tourism theory ”, Current Issues in Tourism , Vol. 12 No. 1 , pp. 21 - 31 .

Corresponding author

About the author.

Noga Collins-Kreiner is based at the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.

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Religious Tourism, Pilgrimage, and Cultural Tourism

2016, Silpakorn University

Abstract The aim of this study is to provide a critical review of the literature in the following areas: concepts related to the intersection of tourism and religion, religion and spirituality are still among the most common motivations for travel, religious tourism and pilgrimage, sacred motivations for pilgrimage, development of tourism destination for pilgrimage route, and challenges for pilgrimage route in cultural tourism. Religious Tourism, so-called “Faith Tourism”, is a form of tourism, whereby people of faith travel individually or in groups for reasons related to religion or spirituality in their quest for meaning. It could be under pilgrimage, missionary, or leisure purposes. Many of today's most popular tourist destinations are related to ancient places of worship or to the site of apparent miracles. In addition, Pilgrimage, as a part of religious tourism, is the act of moving from one place to another, often traveling through foreign lands; an ordered march of a group of people, usually with religious connotation. It is a ritual journey with a hallowed purpose; every step along the way has meaning; the pilgrim knows that the journey will be difficult and that life-giving challenges will emerge. Basically, sacred destinations and places of pilgrimage associate with the mainstream faiths: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Sikhism. Nowadays, at least three hundred million pilgrims visit the world's key religious sites every year. The study also presents an implication to distinct pilgrimage from religious tourism. In term of pilgrimage, its incorporation conveys religious involvement into the journey. Motivations for pilgrimage will differ from those of religious tourism. The pilgrimage has a mediation function between the natural and the cultural world & between the natural and the supernatural world. It is not a vacation, but a transformational journey during which significant change takes place; new insights are given, deeper understanding is attained, new and old places in the heart are visited, blessings are received, healing takes place, and on return from the pilgrimage, life is seen with different eyes and nothing will ever be quite the same again. While pilgrimage has ultimate spiritual goal, the search for eternal truth and becoming one with God, it is a journey resulting from religious causes, externally to a holy site, and internationally for spiritual purposes and internal understanding. Sacred site that houses holy artifacts promotes ritual practice and attracts religious travelers or pilgrims, who often mark the time and extend the space of the journey by returning home with mementos. The review includes the development of tourism destination for pilgrimage route. Pilgrimage is as the ancient forerunner and analogue of modern tourism. At the same time, tourism is as a kind of pilgrimage of modern civilization. Tourist is half a pilgrim, if a pilgrim is half a tourist. Indeed, tourism and pilgrimage can be identified as opposite end points on a continuum of travel. While changing motivations of the traveler, whose interests and activities may switch from tourism to pilgrimage and vice versa, even without the individual being aware of the change. The study also found valid connections between sacred people, places, and events. Challenge for pilgrimage route in cultural tourism has been finally discussed. Tourist attractions are symbols of modern consciousness, the modern cathedrals of consumption, and venerated through sight sacralization. Sightseeing becomes a modern ritual. New means of consumption can be seen as cathedrals of consumption. Must-see attractions replace the must-see religious sites. There is an emergence of experience industry from the pilgrimage route, as cultural heritage attraction, in view of cultural tourism, aimed at consuming experiences and engaging in enchantment. The study found that religious-based experiences could provide experienced-based economies. Religion, as a tourist experience, becomes part of the symbolic economy. In conclusion, the experience industry with tourist attractions derived from the pilgrimage routes has been broadly developed in form of cultural tourism in our time. These tourist attractions are also known as cultural heritage attractions, functioning as the travel motivations of tourist.

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Religious tourism- what is it and how does it work?

Disclaimer: Some posts on Tourism Teacher may contain affiliate links. If you appreciate this content, you can show your support by making a purchase through these links or by buying me a coffee . Thank you for your support!

Religious tourism makes up a big part of the tourism industry worldwide. Learn more about religious tourism, what it is and how it works in this article….

What is religious tourism?

Why is religious tourism important, missionaries, religious sightseeing, religious tourism in india, religious tourism in the philippines, religious tourism in italy, religious tourism in israel, religious tourism in turkey, religious tourism in poland, religious tourism- further reading.

Religious tourism is a branch of tourism which involves people travelling for religious purposes (like a pilgrimage ) or to see things of religious importance (sightseeing). It is also known as faith tourism. It also incorporates missionaries. Religious tourism isn’t just for religious people, of course. Many people who engage in religious tourism are actually of no religion themselves!

Religious tourism is an important branch of tourism for many reasons. It allows people to connect to their religion in a way they might otherwise not be able to – for example, a Muslim person living in a predominantly Christian country or area may have little opportunity to visit a mosque. They may also not have the chance to meet other Muslims very often. By visiting a place where Islam is the prominent religion, they might be able to build a better connection with their religion.

It also provides a way for humanity to preserve our common heritage. All religions are practised in different places across the globe, as humanity has spread through the centuries. By visiting religious monuments and locations, we are able to learn more about the histories behind different religions, making religious tourism a great form of educational tourism too.

Religious tourism also helps to provide funding for the upkeep and preservation of religious sites. Entry fees to places like the Vatican are useful when it comes to repairs and paying for the staff who maintain the physical aspect of the Catholic Church. As well as this, as more people visit certain areas, governments are forced to ensure that roads, water supplies and infrastructure are taken care of.

Religious tourism activities

There are various activities which can come under the arm of religious tourism. One major one is a pilgrimage. I have an in-depth article about this, which you can read here . A pilgrimage is an often lengthy trip to a place of particular significance to your religion. An example of this is Muslims visiting Mecca, or Catholics heading to Lourdes. You can find some other religious tourism activities below…

A missionary is a person sent on a mission by their religion. They are sent to an area in order to promote this religion, and also provide services that this area may need. The most famous missionaries are members of the evangelical church, a branch of Christianity. The term comes from the Bible, when Jesus himself used it to refer to sending his disciples to preach the gospel in his name. However, the term’ missionary’ can be used in relation to any religion.

The most popular form of religious tourism is sightseeing. This is something which many people do, regardless of their particular religion. Every year, over 5 million people visit the Vatican – and they are not all Catholics heading there to pray or connect to the religion. They are also people who are interested in art and architecture, or history buffs, or people who want to tick ‘visiting the world’s smallest country’ off their bucket list.

The same goes with people visiting other religious sites. They may not necessarily be religious themselves. Many are, of course, and visit these sites for reasons similar to why people go on pilgrimages. They want to connect with other people of the same religion, or visit a place that is important to the religion itself.

There are many places you can go if religious sightseeing is something you enjoy. You’ll find some popular ones below!

Religious tourism destinations

Pretty much every town and city across the globe has a church, mosque, temple, cathedral or synagogue (and so on) – which means religious tourism can take place anywhere. There are some places, however, where it is much more prominent than others.

Religious tourism in India is huge. Spirituality is a massive part of Indian culture , with the main religion being Hinduism. 79.8% of the population identify as Hindu, with 14.2% practising Islam and 2.3% being Christians. Sikhism and Buddhism, while not as popular in India now, were both actually founded here.

With that in mind, there are many places of religious importance to visit in India.

Haridwar and Varanasi are two famous religious places in India, and have been since ancient times. They are two sites with a lot of significance in Hinduism. Haridwar is where the River Ganges exits the Himalayan foothills, and there is a nightly river worshipping ceremony held here. Tiny flickering lamps are floated off the steps of the sacred ghat here. Varanasi is believed to have been the home of Lord Shiva, a prominent figure in Hinduism. Varanasi sees many pilgrims visiting in order to purify themselves by bathing in the River Ganges at sunrise.

There are also hundreds of beautiful churches, temples and mosques across the country which make for wonderful sightseeing.

The Philippines is a predominantly Catholic country. 83% of residents are Roman Catholic, with other branches of Christianity being the next popular religion followed by Islam. There are many Catholic sites you can visit as a religious tourist. These include:

Monasterio de Tarlac, San Jose, Tarlac – with its statue very reminiscent of Christ the Redeemer in Rio
National Shrine of the Divine Mercy, Marilao, Bulacan – with healing flower water in its basement
Tatlong Krus, Paete, Laguna – the site of three tall white crosses with breathtaking views, a popular pilgrimage site
Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto, San Jose Del Monte City, Bulacan – a replica of the grotto at Lourdes, with 14 Stations of the Cross
Manila Cathedral – inside the walled historic city of within the modern city of Manila

When it comes to religious tourism, Italy is one of the best places. You’ll find so many churches, cathedrals, museums and historic religious sites to visit whether you are religious or not. Being the location of the Vatican, which is the heart of the Catholic Church, it comes as no surprise! Statistics show that Italy is home to at least 1,500 shrines, 30,000 churches, and 700 diocesan museums. As well as this, there are a large number of monasteries and convents across the country.

Assisi is one of the most important places in Italy for religious tourism. This is where St Francis (patron saint of Italy) lived! His remains are buried at the basilica here.

Loreto is another important destination. People come here to visit the Basilica della Santa Casa, home to some of the relics of the holy house of Nazareth. Legend says this is the house where Mary would have grown up – and where she would have received the message of Jesus’ birth.

Rome , of course, is where you can go to visit the Vatican. St Peter’s Square is an incredibly important destination for religious tourism, as people flock here to catch a glimpse of – or be blessed by – the Pope.

More than half of tourists visiting Israel are religious tourists. Home of the Holy Land, it is no wonder that so many Christians and Jews come here. Recent statistics show that:

90% of all Christian tourists visited Jerusalem
89% visited Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee
86% visited Nazareth
85% visited the Dead Sea area
83% visited Capernaum
86% of pilgrims visited Bethlehem

Within these regions, there are so many places to see which are of religious importance to Christians and the people of the Jewish faith. These include Via Dolorosa, the Western Wall, Mount of Olives, the Church of the Nativity, the Church of the Annunciation and many more.

There is a lot of religious tourism in Turkey too. Here there are many churches, mosques, mausoleums, crypts and so on. Religious tourists can visit the ‘first church in the world’, which is the Church of Saint Peter. Located near Antakya, it is a cave carved into the mountainside. Saint Nicholas lived in Turkey, too, so there are various locations linked to him – including the alleged site of his burial in Demre.

It’s not just Christianity that is so present in Turkey. There are so many Islamic sites of importance across the country too. Istanbul is home to the only remaining items of clothing of the prophet Muhammad; there are beautiful mosques in every area of the country, and you’ll be able to hear the call to prayer wherever you are.

Poland is another destination which is popular for religious tourism. One very popular site is the Pauline Monastery on Jasna Góra in Częstochowa. This is where tourists can find the blessed icon of the Black Madonna, worshipped globally. Wadowice is the birthplace of Pope John Paul II – and there is a lot of information about him in Krakow too, as the two places are relatively close. Generally, the country has many beautiful churches and monasteries. These make for brilliant sightseeing trips, a major part of religious tourism as stated above.

If you have enjoyed this article, I am sure that you will love these too!

What is pilgrimage tourism and why is it important?
Social impacts of tourism
What is sustainable tourism and why does it matter?
Volunteer tourism: Everything you need to know
Ethical tourism: Everything you need to know

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Where are all the pilgrims? The current state of religious tourism in the Holy Land

By Marinella Bandini

Jerusalem, Jun 4, 2024 / 07:00 am

During the month of May in Jerusalem, the major holidays of the three major religions — Christian Easter, Jewish Passover, and the month of Ramadan — passed with an almost total absence of pilgrims from abroad.

The holy sites and the streets of the Old City are usually crowded with tourists and pilgrims at this time of year, but they have been empty for the past eight months due to the Israel-Hamas war.

Muslims orderly make their way to the entrances of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound for noon prayer, but otherwise, the Via Dolorosa is completely empty. There are no pilgrims ascending to the Holy Sepulcher. The Sanctuary of the Flagellation, maintained by the Franciscans at the starting point of the Via Crucis path, is always open — but that is empty, too.

Things aren’t any better at Gethsemane.

“Before the war, we had more than a hundred groups a day. Today, we welcome two or three groups on a good day,” Brother Siniša Srebrenović, the guardian of the Franciscan Convent of the Agony (Gethsemane), told CNA. “They mostly come from Asia or South America. Some come from Eastern Europe, mainly Orthodox Christians.”

The absence of pilgrims also means the absence of income.

“We friars sustain ourselves with the offerings of the pilgrims. The charity of the pilgrims also helps cover the maintenance expenses of the sanctuary and some development projects,” Srebrenović explained. “Today, everything is at a standstill. Workers from the Palestinian Territories do not have permission to come, and the financial resources are only enough for the ordinary. Despite this, the custody continues to financially support its workers and has not laid off any of them.”

At the Holy Sepulcher, the waiting time to enter the edicule (where Jesus’ tomb is kept) is just a few minutes, compared with up to two hours last year. The daily procession of the Franciscan friars inside the basilica is attended by only a handful of faithful — mostly residents of Jerusalem.

The Via Dolorosa, at the location of the Church of the Flagellation, is completely deserted in the afternoon of Friday, May 24, 2024. Usually, Friday is the day when many Christian pilgrims walk the Via Dolorosa in the footsteps of Jesus to the Holy Sepulcher. Credit: Marinella Bandini

Even Bethlehem is empty

“Tourism in Palestine is effectively zeroed out. Every day we lose $2.5 million,” lamented Majed Ishaq, director general of the marketing department of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Palestine.

He described to CNA a dramatic situation: “Tourist facilities are closed; people working in the sector — including many Christians — have had no income for months. People are trying to sell houses, cars, furniture, to survive.”

“International tourism passes through Israel; they control our borders. We are under a kind of siege,” Ishaq continued. “Reaching Bethlehem is still possible, but cities in the north, like Nablus or Jenin, and also Hebron further south, are almost unreachable. Even local tourism and internal travel are severely affected due to attacks by settlers.”

Some groups arrive, especially via Jordan. The hope is that something will move at least by the end of the year, especially for the Christmas holidays.

According to data from the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, just over 80,000 people (tourists and pilgrims combined) entered the country in April — a decrease of 77% compared with April 2023 and 80% compared with April 2019, the peak year before the pandemic.

Cumulatively, from January through April, about 285,000 tourist arrivals were recorded, a decrease of about 78% in relation to the corresponding period in 2023.

More in Middle East - Africa

Palestinian Christians participate in a Marian procession

Jerusalem’s Marian procession: A call for peace in war-torn Gaza

“The decline is attributed to the impact of the ‘Iron Swords’ war [the name Israel has given to the campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip following the events of Oct. 7, 2023] although in the months that have passed since the outbreak of the war, there has been a certain increase in the number of tourist arrivals to Israel, but it is not yet possible to identify any trend.”

A small group of Orthodox Christians from Romania inside the Basilica of Gethsemane kiss the stone on which, according to tradition, Jesus sweated blood during the night of Holy Thursday. May 2024. Credit: Marinella Bandini

Dr. Yaron Ergas, director of research, statistics, and information management at the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, told CNA that “the Ministry of Tourism conducts a survey among incoming tourists, where they are asked several questions including the main purpose of their visit. Tourists choosing ‘pilgrimage/faith based tour’ are considered religious tourists. That percentage, in 2019, was 16.6%” out of about 5 million entries.

At the outbreak of the war, in October 2023, “we stopped the surveys,” Ergas explained, so there is no useful data on religious tourism since then.

“Recovery is not expected until late 2025,” he added.

Other statistics, focused on Christian pilgrims, were provided to CNA by the Christian Information Centre (CIC), sponsored by the Custody of the Holy Land. CIC has been providing information about Christianity and on the Holy Land, including shrines, holy places, and liturgies, for more than 50 years. Additionally, it is the only official channel for booking Masses in the holy sites.

From October to December 2023, approximately 2,800 groups (107,000 individuals) had booked at least one celebration through the CIC, and they all canceled as soon as the war broke out. Of these, 95% were Catholics and 4% were Protestants. Ninety percent were groups from abroad. From January to April of this year, the groups registered by the CIC ranged from 100 to 200 per month (averaging 5,000 to 6,000 individuals per month).

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The lack of Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land is especially due to the fact that many companies are unwilling to issue insurance policies for those heading to a territory considered dangerous and risky.

A group of Christian pilgrims from the Philippines at the Gethsemane sanctuary. In these months of war, arrivals from Southeast Asia and South America continue. This is largely due — as the pilgrims themselves recount — to the fact that agencies do not refund prepaid trips, which many have invested their life savings in. This compels people to travel despite everything. Credit: Marinella Bandini

Arrivals from Southeast Asia and South America continue, however (while the United States remains the top country for entries, the second group surprisingly comprises Indonesians). This is largely due — as the pilgrims themselves admit — to the fact that agencies do not refund prepaid trips, which many have invested their life savings in. This compels people to travel despite everything.

“We want to encourage Jews and Christians leaders to push their believers to come on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. We assume, and I think it is correct, that there’s a desire to come and visit,” Pini Shani, deputy director general and head of marketing administration of the Israel Ministry of Tourism, shared with CNA.

Hopes for the 2025 Jubilee

In 2025 there will be two interesting events for religious tourism in the Holy Land.

“A special exhibition of the Isahia scrolls will be held in 2025 at the Israel Museum to commemorate its 60th anniversary. We are confident that many people will show interest. We will try to engage people who come on pilgrimage to the Holy Land to visit this special exhibition,” Shani said.

Furthermore, in 2025, Catholics will celebrate a jubilee year.

“We were very encouraged by the pope’s call for the jubilee,” Shani said. “The churches of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the Annunciation in Nazareth, and the Nativity in Bethlehem will be jubilee places; people will be encouraged to visit them, and we’re sure it will help to recover tourism.”

Some pilgrims pray at the eighth station of the Via Crucis. The holy sites and the streets of the Old City, usually crowded with tourists and pilgrims at this time of year, have been empty for the past eight months due to the war. “We want to encourage Jews and Christians leaders to push their believers to come on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land,” Pini Shani, deputy director general and head of marketing administration of the Israel Ministry of Tourism, told CNA. May 2024. Credit: Marinella Bandini

The main Christian religious leaders in the Holy Land have never stopped issuing appeals to pilgrims to return to the holy places. “Do not be afraid, return to Jerusalem and to the Holy Land! Your presence is always a presence of peace, and we sincerely need peace today; may you come and bring us your peace,” said the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, at the end of the Palm Sunday procession.

An echo of those words is found in the message released by the Dicastery for Evangelization on May 28, on the occasion of the 45th World Tourism Day, to be held on Sept. 27 on the theme “Tourism and Peace.”

“The interest that moves millions of tourists can easily be linked with the commitment to brotherhood, so as to constitute a network of ‘messengers of peace’ who speak to the entire world to invoke the end of all war and the reopening of territories full of history, culture, and faith. ... Being peace-builders is not only possible; it is required of those who embark on a journey,” the dicastery’s message said.

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Where are all the pilgrims? The current state of religious tourism in the Holy Land

The holy sites and the streets of the Old City are usually crowded with tourists and pilgrims at this time of year, but they have been empty for the past eight months due to the Israel-Hamas war.

The "Sacred Garden," the oldest part of the Garden of Gethsemane, at the foot of the Mount of Olives where Jesus prayed on the night of Holy Thursday, May 24, 2024. (Marinella Bandini via CNA)

Things aren’t any better at Gethsemane.

The absence of pilgrims also means the absence of income.

The Via Dolorosa, at the location of the Church of the Flagellation, is completely deserted in the afternoon of Friday, May 24, 2024. Usually, Friday is the day when many Christian pilgrims walk the Via Dolorosa in the footsteps of Jesus to the Holy Sepulcher. (Marinella Bandini via CNA)

Even Bethlehem is empty

Some groups arrive, especially via Jordan. The hope is that something will move at least by the end of the year, especially for the Christmas holidays.

Cumulatively, from January through April, about 285,000 tourist arrivals were recorded, a decrease of about 78% in relation to the corresponding period in 2023.

A small group of Orthodox Christians from Romania inside the Basilica of Gethsemane kiss the stone on which, according to tradition, Jesus sweated blood during the night of Holy Thursday, May 24, 2024. (Marinella Bandini via CNA)

At the outbreak of the war, in October 2023, “we stopped the surveys,” Ergas explained, so there is no useful data on religious tourism since then.

“Recovery is not expected until late 2025,” he added.

A group of Christian pilgrims from the Philippines at the Gethsemane sanctuary. In these months of war, arrivals from Southeast Asia and South America continue. (Marinella Bandini via CNA)

Hopes for the 2025 Jubilee

In 2025 there will be two interesting events for religious tourism in the Holy Land.

Furthermore, in 2025, Catholics will celebrate a jubilee year.

Some pilgrims pray at the eighth station of the Via Crucis. The holy sites and the streets of the Old City, usually crowded with tourists and pilgrims at this time of year, have been empty for the past eight months due to the war. (Marinella Bandini via CNA)

Article Tags

Holy Land , Israel-Gaza Conflict , Pilgrims , Tourism

Marinella Bandini

Catholic news agency.

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Buddhism and Religious Tourism by Courtney Bruntz LAST REVIEWED: 28 July 2015 LAST MODIFIED: 28 July 2015 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195393521-0133

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