Tourism and Travel Commons^™

Catering To Diverse Visitor Requirements At Ecclesiastical Heritages: Challenges For Upholding Spiritual Values, Site Authenticity, Integrity And Identity, Vreny Enongene

Conference papers

Tourism to sacred sites is growing exponentially, with these numbers expecting to double by the year 2020 (UNWTO, 2014 and Tourism & More, 2014). According to Alen (2012), 60% of visitors to sacred places in Israel are strictly tourists as opposed to pilgrims. In addition, there is an identified changing nature and demand of these contemporary sacred site visitors, of which the typical faith-based visitor is no exception (Kartal et al., 2015). Thus, catering to the diverse requirements of these contemporary sacred site visitors, to include aspects such as the demand for satisfaction from spiritual renewal services, as well …

Walking The Paths Of Fr John Sullivan: A Potential Irish Pilgrimage Route And Trail For The Sick And Needy, Vreny Enongene, Kevin Griffin, Tony Kiely

Conference papers

Spiritual tourism is said to be growing in popularity globally, and so is the interest in the development of products and services to meet the needs and expectation of this growing market segment. Scholars are equally interested in the development of niche faith-based markets and products, as evident in the most recent international conference on niche market formation for faith-based tourism that took place in Malta on the 20^th of October 2017. However, it is equally evident on a global scale that destinations that are host to ecclesiastical heritages are increasingly developing and redeveloping new and old products respectively, …

The Importance Of Community Engagement For The Development Of Rural Sacred Sites, Vreny Enongene, Kevin Griffin

Conference papers

https://www.thric2018.ie/uploads/6/9/2/5/6925239/thric_conference_proceedings_2018.pdf

According to the partners of sacred places, there is growing evidence of the centrality of sacred places in community life www.sacredplaces.org. Crucial given their regional sustainable economic development potential (Enongene & Griffin, 2016). Thus, for both parties to tap in to these potentials, a collaborative approach, that engages all community stakeholders is essential in addressing their shared problem and providing practical and effective solutions to issues affecting their well-being. Essential given that Community engagement has been acknowledged as a powerful tool in the achievement of long-term sustainable outcomes. To buttress this argument, quite recently, there has been a …

Stakeholder Involvement: An Identified Invaluable Resource In The Management And Conservation Of Ireland's Natural Religious Heritage Croagh Patrick: Insights And Challenges, Vreny Enongene, Kevin Griffin

Conference papers

This paper seeks to explore how the concept of stakeholder involvement has been applied for the very first time in the management and conservation of the 800 years old Ireland's Holy mountain Croagh Patrick. In doing so, it explores factors that facilitate and hinder the effectiveness of this new-found partnership towards the sustainable management of this sacred natural site, which simultaneously serves as a place of pilgrimage and tourism. Crucial given scholarly demand for greater understanding of the opportunities and barriers that stakeholder involvement may entail, Woodland & Acott (2007), and even more crucial given that routes and directions for …

Technological Mediated Applications At Sacred Heritages: Usefulness And Challenges- A Managerial Perspective, Vreny Enongene

Conference papers

The rapid development of technologies introduces smartness to all organisations and communities (Buhalis, & Amaranggana, 2014. P. 553), for which sacred heritages are no exception, as evident in their increasing use of technological mediated applications towards enhancing the visitors experience and data generation. This development in the use of technological applications, has in part been triggered by the identified changing needs and expectations of contemporary sacred site visitors, as well as their importance and role in changing the nature of the consumers expectations and the nature of the visitor’s experience.

Thus, applying these smart tourism concept in addressing the changing …