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The Impact Of Covid-19 On Temple Stays: A Case Study From Koyasan, Japan, Ricardo Nicolas Progano

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic had a dramatic impact on worldwide religious tourism, with wide repercussions for both visitors and local stakeholders. However, previous studies on disaster management and tourism do not address the impacts on religious destinations. The viewpoints and experiences of religious stakeholders are seldom studied. Therefore, using a qualitative approach, this research aims to examine the impact of COVID-19 on temple stays by utilising Faulkner’s tourism disaster management framework. The case study of the Buddhist complex of Kōyasan (Wakayama Prefecture, Japan) is taken, where 52 temples offer temple stay services. Two rounds of semi-structured interviews were first carried …

Travelling To The Inner Self: Tourism, Buddhism And Sustainability In The Alpine Area, Tatjana Thimm

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

This paper examines the interdependencies of tourism, Buddhism and sustainability combining in-depth-interviews with Buddhism experts and non-participant observation in a mixed-method approach. The area under investigation is the Alpine region of Austria, Germany and Switzerland, since it is home to Asian and Western forms of Buddhism tourism alike. Results show that Buddhism tourism as a value-based activity on the one hand is not commercial, but since demand is rising, on the other hand tendencies towards more commercial forms can be observed. As a modest form of activity Buddhism tourism does not shape the landscape of the Alpine area and by …

Impact Of Social Media On Spiritual Tourism In India: An Sem Analysis Of The Critical Factors Impacting On Decision Making, Alpana Agarwal, Komal Kapoor, Sandeep Walia

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Over the last two decades, an exponential rise has been observed in the growth of spiritual tourism where travellers are preferring and visiting places of religious inclination seeking to align their body and mind. In the current fast paced life where stress, anxiety, insecurities and depression have become common place, travelling to certain places that provide connection with the almighty or peace to the traveller has become very important. Spiritual tourism in India has always been very highly valued and is active as an industry in a country known as the land of temples and gods. Many globally popular destinations …

Experience Dimensions Of Religious Festivals: Religion And Spirituality At Paryaya, Udupi, India, Senthilkumaran Piramanayagam, Partho Pratim Seal

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Festivals and events have been found to be an important motivation for travel, and are a significant component in a destination offering. All religious festivals, irrespective of religion and tradition, aim to develop spirituality. Experience is the core of festivals and events, and the experience is multifaceted. This research aims to analyse the impact of various experience dimensions of religious festivals on participants’ overall festival experience and behavioural intention at a biennial festival called ‘Paryaya’ held at Udupi, India, using the concept of the experience economy. The researchers have adopted a quantitative research approach for the study. The result obtained …

A New Look At The Arba’Een Mega-Event From The Perspective Of Iraqis As The Host Community, Ali Asghar Shalbafian, Neda Zarandian

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The present study explores the impacts of the Arba’een event from the perspective of the inhabitants in the host community, Iraq, as the key stakeholders. Arba’een procession is one of the forms of pilgrimage that has expanded significantly in recent years and has a special place among Muslims. Due to the huge number of pilgrims, this phenomenon can be considered as a mega-event with different effects. One of the best judges of these effects is the host community. To evaluate the judgements, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 Iraqis selected via convenience snowball sampling. The data collected from the interview …

Exploring The Motivations Of Millennials Opting For Temple Stays In India, Aruditya Jasrotia, Pooja Choudhary, Parvinder Kour, Vibha Yadav

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Millennials are the most promising consumer segment of the tourism industry and the fast pace of development and emergence of newer trends has led to a drastic change in consumer behaviour. Temple Stays are emerging as a significant source of tourism for sites that are transforming traditional religious practices into a complete hybrid of leisure and recreation. Considering this, the current research is framed to analyse the factors that motivate Millennials to undertake spiritual tourism activities, with special focus on Temple Stay programs at various Buddhist sites / monasteries in India and the revisit intentions of Millennials. The research is …

Can Spiritual Tourism In India Be Marketed Properly? Learnings From An Analysis Of Twitter, Veerasamy Senthil, Susobhan Goswami

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The tourism sector is an economic powerhouse for any country and tourism growth improves the quality of people’s lives by providing employment of diverse kinds. Electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) has emerged to become a highly influential strategy of modern marketing and a significant medium as harnessed by travel marketers. Sentiments are a representation of human emotions and present a wide spectrum of varying intensity. The objectives of this research paper are to examine what propels a spiritual traveller towards Indian sites of interest, to appreciate the function of beliefs and where does it yield fruits? It also analyses the …

The Role Of Communication Technologies In Restructuring Pilgrimage Journeys, Reni Polus, Neil Carr

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage has evolved alongside the evolution of communication technology. Emergent communication technology is changing how people present themselves and tell others about their experiences, including within the context of pilgrimages. Building upon this recognition, this paper examines how evolving communication technologies have changed pilgrimage using Victor Turner’s concepts of rite of passage and communitas. This conceptual paper recognises that technologies, such as the internet, mobile phones and social media, all influence the three stages of the pilgrimage ritual process: separation, liminality, and reintegration. This paper provides a conceptual clarification of the differences between how the medieval and the 21st Century …

Revisiting The Inner Self In Times Of Debilitating Distress: Gateways For Wellness Through Spiritual Tourism, Manpreet Arora, Roshan Lal Sharma, Sandeep Walia

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating effects on our bodies, minds and souls. Having suffered it for more than a year now we know how crucial it is to tackle the pandemic at physical, psychological and spiritual levels. We have well-established Standard Operating Procedures alongside vaccines to deal with it at physical level, but equally crucial are mental and spiritual problems caused by COVID-19 (Chopra, 2020).

This paper seeks to explore certain gateways and possibilities of dealing with distress, despair, anxiety, angst, trauma and disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in diverse arenas of human activities to ascertain how crucial …

Women’S Experiences In Religious Tourism: An Investigation Into Women’S Involvement In Sabarimala Pilgrimage, Kerala, Shyju P.J., A. Vinodan, S. Meera, Jithendran Kokkranikal

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Preparations for the Sabarimala pilgrimage involves devotees observing a 41 day period of austerity (vrata) during which they practice an ascetic life. Women between the age of 10 and 50 do not visit the shrine at Sabarimala due to long-established customs. However, women do play an important role during the 41-day austerity observed by family members preparing for the pilgrimage, which could be described as a non-participant involvement in the pilgrimage. While there have been many studies on the spiritual and secular experiences of pilgrims, research on this unique form of non-participant involvement in pilgrimages is not found especially in …

Drivers Of Spiritual Tourism: A Destination-Specific Approach, Bipithalal Balakrishnan Nair, M. R. Dileep

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

With a rising number of visitors worldwide, spiritual tourism is becoming more relevant than ever before. Spiritual tourism is defined as travel to discover the goal and significance of one’s life, thus, self-experiences are crucial for the transition of a person’s mind, body, and soul. Because of this, both the destination chosen and the inspiration and intention of the tourists involved play central roles. However, existing research on spiritual tourism mainly focuses on classification and motivation and explicitly focuses on the demand side. Given the recent increase of participation in spiritually-focused tourism, it is important to accurately grasp the practical …

Ijrtp Volume 9(V) Table Of Contents & Editorial, Sandeep Walia, Saurabh Kumar Dixit, Razaq Raj, Carlos Fernandes, Kevin A. Griffin

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

No abstract provided.

Factors Affecting Satisfaction And Revisit-Intention Of Pilgrimage Tourists: Bà Chúa Xứ Shrine In Vietnam, Bang Nguyen Viet, Si Nguyen Van

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

This study aims to define and measure key factors of the satisfaction and revisit-intention of pilgrimage tourists to Bà Chúa Xứ Shrine in Vietnam. The study involved both qualitative and quantitative methods: (i) qualitative research was carried out through focus group discussions with pilgrimage tourists, and (ii) quantitative research was conducted through interviews with 288 pilgrimage tourists. The results showed that intentions to revisit the Ba Chua Zu Shrine was directly affected by satisfaction, destination image, cultural contact, and spirituality. The results reveal that pilgrimage destination image, spirituality and cultural contact had positive and direct significant influences on revisit-intention and …

Motivation And Experience Of Sacred Tomb Pilgrimage: Learnings From The Sasak Tribe Lombok, M Sobry, Teti Indrawati Purnamasari

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

This study analyses the motivations and experiences that drive the pilgrimage to the sacred tombs of the Lombok Sasak Tribe. This sacred graves pilgrimage is a tradition that has survived from the past and a heritage that passes from generation to generation. The study uses a constructivist paradigm with a phenomenological qualitative approach. The research locations are at the tomb of Almagfurlah TGKH Muhammad Zainuddin Abdul Madjid, in Pancor East Lombok; The Batu Layar Tomb in West Lombok; The Ketaq Tomb, Central Lombok; Bintaro Tomb in Mataram City and; the Tomb at the Bayan Beleq, Bayan in North Lombok. The …

The Collection Of Knowledge, Potential, And Direction Of Temple Development For Promoting Buddhism-Based Tourism In Chonburi And Sriracha, Thailand And Direction Of Temple Development For Promoting Buddhism-Based Tourism In Chonburi And Sriracha, Thailand, Sarunya Lertputtarak, Surat Supitchayangkool

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Tourism is a very important industry for Thailand. Spiritual tourism is one of the outstanding types of tourism for a Buddhist country. Thailand has plenty of attractive Buddhist temples which have a long history, distinctive architecture or even famous Buddhist images. This study aimed to collect information about temples, their potential and directions for promotion of Buddhism-based tourism in Chonburi and Sriracha which are important travel destinations in this area. In undertaking the study the researchers explored 45 temples in this area, of which, 20 were selected for qualitative research via in-depth interviews with the leaders of the temples. In …

Representation Of ‘Fractured Memory Regime’ In The Context Of Hasidic Pilgrimages To Uman, Alla Marchenko

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The main goal of this paper is to analyse how ‘memory regime’ (Kubik & Bernhard) could be researched on a local level, using the example of attitudes to Jewish history and Hasidic pilgrimages in Uman, Ukraine. What types of ‘mnemonic actors’ (Kubik & Bernhard) prevail in Uman? Which statements about the contemporary Hasidic pilgrimages are supported by local inhabitants, and how do they reflect positions of the locals in the local memory field? This paper discusses some results of a quantitative survey on local cultural heritage conducted in the frame of the international EU-funded project ‘ReHerit’ in Uman in late …

Buhe Festival In Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church For Event Tourism Development: The Case Of Debre Tabor And Its Surroundings, Dagnachew Nega

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Buhe festival is also called Debre Tabor festival. It is one of the most famous intangible cultural heritage events in Ethiopia. It was only a few decades ago that event tourism became established in both the tourism industry and in the research community, so that subsequent growth of this sector can only be described as spectacular. The festival is becoming highly celebrated at Debre Tabor town, Ethiopia. However, its potential, value and opportunities haven’t been studied so far. Thus, the objective of the study is to explore the practices of safeguarding Buhe festival for event tourism development. The study used …

Mapping And Evaluating The Attractiveness Of Pilgrim Routes From An Experiential Perspective: The Case Of The ‘Paths Through Italy’, Fabio Forlani, Luca Ferrucci, Antonio Picciotti, Simone Splendiani

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The assessment of tourist offerings and the attractiveness of tourist destinations has been the subject of many studies in the tourism management literature over the years. Several authors have examined the territorial characteristics and factors that nurture tourist destination attractiveness in order to create flexible models that are capable of providing recommendations and instructions for destination management policies in the tourism industry. However, one of the fields in which this topic has so far been under-studied is with regard to pilgrim routes.

Calling upon the ‘Atlas of the Paths through Italy’ which represents the official census or count of Italian …

Bus Line 163: A Public Pilgrim Bus To Rachel’S Tomb In Jerusalem, Mustafa Diktaş

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Buses are networks for both physical and social mobility. They permit people to become part of temporary communities of individuals whose goal is to travel along linear routes, which connect multiple stops and reach certain destinations. Through an ethnographic case study of Bus No. 163, which is designated for Jewish pilgrims traveling to Rachel’s tomb in Jerusalem, this paper focuses on the interactions between travelers that took place on this bus during December 2019 and February 2020. The interactions of people on Bus No 163 helps us better understand this liminal phase of pilgrimage. The findings of the research, as …

Museums And Shrines: Reflecting On Relationships And Challenges, Lorenzo Bagnoli, Rita Capurro

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The aim of this paper is to introduce a method for analysing a specific kind of contemporary tourism positioned between two different traditional customs: visiting museums and going to pilgrimage sites. The case studies provided are focused on Italian shrine museums where it is difficult to ascertain whether visitors are cultural tourists or pilgrims or a combination of both. Regardless, the tourist flows and networks created by Italian shrine museums can provide promising elements for local development. Four case studies that are representative of different regions in Northern Italy and have specific features in common have been chosen: shrines dedicated …

Ijrtp Volume 9(Iv) Title Page & Table Of Contents, Kevin A. Griffin, Razaq Raj, Carlos Fernandes, Daniel H. Olsen

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

No abstract provided.

Promotion Of Religious Tourism Sites On Facebook By Ntos, Sonja Zlatanov, Jovan Popesku

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Tourism related to religious sites and festivals, pilgrimage and spirituality is considered an extremely important sector of the tourism market. The true value of religious sites lies in supporting basic tourism products outside pilgrimage destinations, as churches, cathedrals and monasteries attract many visitors, including those who are not travelling for religious purposes only. For tourists who are not driven by religious motives, religious sites are no different than any other tourism attraction – they need to attract tourists’ attention in order for them to decide to include those sites in their future trip. Therefore, appropriate promotion of religious sites is …

An Exploration Of The Theological Tensions In The Use Of Churches For Events, Ruth Dowson (Rev.)

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The increasing prevalence of events within leisure and business activities (Dowson & Lamond, 2017), is reflected in the models of engagement by church organisations with their congregations and visitors. This increasing need for venues for events has brought about a new concept of ‘venuefication’ (Dowson & Lamond, 2017), which means that it is possible for any building, space or site to become a venue for an event. The growth of the experience economy in which consumers are moving from amassing possessions to acquiring experiences (Wood, 2009) influences a trend towards the Eventization of faith (Dowson 2018). For churches and other …

Tourists, Pilgrims And Cultural Routes: The Case Of The Kumano Kodo Route In Japan, Polyxeni Moira, Dimitrios Mylonopoulos, Georgia Konstantinou

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Cultural Routes are one of the most important tools for the promotion and the interpretation of cultural heritage. They are itineraries designed around a core theme and they include, inter alia, monuments of archaeological or historical interest, architectural monuments, industrial heritage buildings, religious heritage edifices, traditional settlements, spiritual places. In Japan, one of the most important routes, in Kii Mountain Range, is the Kumano Kodo religious-cultural route. The route reflects the merging of the ancient worship of nature – which is believed to be inhabited by Gods or spirits - Shintoism and Buddhism. The route, due to its great importance, …

The Winning Narrative: The Social Genesis Of Pilgrimage Sites, Stephen F. Haller, Dane Munro Km

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

While pilgrimage sites may be sparked by historical events, their meaning is created by their accompanying narratives. A pilgrimage site becomes sacred to visitors not merely because of scripture, or supposed religious facts, but also because of social and psychological contexts. It is their winning narrative that supplies meaning and a framework for understanding. Without such narratives, it is conceivable that some pilgrimage sites would not have gained their enduring popularity and international appeal. This article not only describes a few instances of such sites rising to fame, but also the philosophy behind a winning narrative.

The idea that narrative …

What Makes Tourists’ Experience Spiritual?: A Case Study Of A Buddhist Sacred Site In Koyasan, Japan, Kaori Yanata

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

In postmodern society the importance of traditional religious organisations and practices have declined. As a result, spirituality tends to be sought outside of institutionalised religion. Tourism is seen as one avenue for such spiritual fulfilment. Tourism research commonly frames tourism as a sacred journey and has pointed out that like modern-day pilgrims, tourists seek spirituality through travel. Of course, not all tourist travel is motivated by a search for spirituality, and yet many tourists still describe their travel experiences as spiritual. Therefore, in addition to understanding motivations of travel, the tourist experience is also an important element of making tourism …

Chris Devereux (1946-2020): An Appreciation, Greg Richards

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

No abstract provided.

Volume 9(Iii) Table Of Contents, Danijel Pavlović, Kevin A. Griffin, Razaq Raj, Carlos Fernandes

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

No abstract provided.

Memory, Imagination, Identity: Pilgrimage And Portraiture In Medieval And Early Modern Europe, Helena Guzik

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Despite the wealth of material and textual evidence attesting to the practice of Christian pilgrimage throughout history, comprehending an individual’s understanding of pilgrimage in relation to his or her own identity has always proved challenging. Pilgrimage studies scholars have tended to look to travel accounts, chronicles, and collected pilgrim souvenirs to discern how pilgrims were affected by and responded to their experiences. One form of source material that has gone largely underexamined in this regard is the genre of portraiture. This article explores how and why the concept of pilgrimage could be incorporated into the self-fashioned images of patrons in …

Pilgrim Coaches: A New Phenomenon, Dane Munro

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

This article introduces the relatively new phenomenon of the pilgrim coach, i.e. a recently developed profession whose practitioners help people along the mental trajectory of pilgrimhood. Historically, the pilgrim was subject to ‘codified forms which governed conduct, termination, and purpose’ (Gros, 2015:107). Pilgrims were instructed by their local church how they best could fulfil their vows along the way and at the shrines. In the post-pilgrimage era (Munro, 2017), where tourism is integrated with pilgrimage, new pilgrim routes are being created for both the religious and non-religious for the purpose of connecting people to a goal or philosophy through pilgrimage. …