Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

How Long Does The Pilgrimage Tourism Experience To Santiago De Compostela Last?, Lucrezia Lopez

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Tourism and pilgrimage are different social phenomena (Cohen, 1992; Collins-Kreiner, 2010a); tourism is more secular than pilgrimage, which is mainly a sacred journey (Barber, 2001). In spite of this, both indicate a ‘movement’; so that tourists and pilgrims are ‘foreigners, travellers and strangers’ (Smith, 1992) who look for authentic experiences (Collins-Kreiner, 2010a). The question: ‘What kind of Experience Pilgrimage is?’ has many answers. From a social point of view, pilgrims are free from social obligations; they share the same destination and the same social status. Because of this, the anthropologists Turner and Turner (1978) defined pilgrimage as an anti-structural experience …