Tourism and Travel Commons^™

The State Of The Region: Hampton Roads 2016, James V. Koch, Vinod Agarwal, Christopher B. Colburn, Vicky Curtis, Steve Daniel, Larry "Chip" Filer, Timothy Komarek, Feng Lian, Sharon Lomax, Wolfgang Mairinger, Alice Mcadory, Robert Mcnab, Janet Molinaro, Lisa Suhay

Economics Faculty Books

This is Old Dominion University's 17th annual State of the Region report. While it represents the work of many people connected in various ways to the university, the report does not constitute an official viewpoint of Old Dominion or it's president, John R. Broderick. The report maintains the goal of stimulating thought and discussion that ultimately will make Hampton Roads an even better place to live. We are proud of our region's many successes, but realize that it is possible to improve our performance. In order to do so, we must have accurate information about "where we are" and a …

From Cuba With Love, Jenny Chen

Colby Magazine

It’s the city that Carey Powers ’14 fell in love with when she was just 9 years old, when she was visiting the city with her family while her dad studied the Cuban medical system. Thirteen years later Powers is back, working with Cuba Educational Travel at one of the most exciting moments in Cuban history.

Xuanzang And Bodhidharma: Pilgrimage And Peace-Building In Buddhist China And India, Ian S. Mcintosh

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

In the study of pilgrimage and peace-building, case studies deemed to be influential in initiating positive change in the world are in the spotlight. A novel example in which people with different ethnicities, cultures and walks of life have come together with a common purpose is associated with the spread of Buddhism from India to China beginning in the early centuries of the Common Era. Unlike other instances of the expansion of a world religion beyond its homeland, the spread of Buddhism along the maritime and overland ‘silk roads’ was not linked to domination or conquest. Rather, it was linked …

Running: An Inclusive Approach To Understanding The Notion Of Pilgrimages, Sonika Jain

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

This paper is anchored in the personal narrative of the author whose childhood interest in running was rekindled in adulthood. She prepared herself to run her first half marathon after practicing for a few years, despite a history of serious injuries. The paper offers observations and reflections of the author, as an amateur runner. In addition, insights and analysis are drawn from autobiographical accounts of elite runners like Indian ultra-distance runner Amit Sheth (2011) and North American ultramarathon distance runner Scott Jurek (2012). The paper examines the reasons for different runners to commence and continue to run in their adulthood. …

Begumpura Yatras: Constructing The Ravidassia Pilgrimage Tradition, Anna Bochkovskaya

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The long-term conflict in the Sikh community involving lower castes - predominantly, Ravidassias, chamar (cobblers/tanners) followers of the medieval saint Ravidas - and Jats boiled into an open confrontation after the Vienna incident (May 2009), when one of the Ravidassia leaders was killed by radical Sikhs in a local gurdwara. In 2010, Ravidassias launched their own religion - the Ravidassia Dharam, set up their own scripture - the Amritbani Satguru Ravidas Maharaj, and proclaimed the ultimate place of pilgrimage for the community - the Varanasi-based Ravidas Janamsthan Mandir that bears the name of Begumpura (a city without sorrow), a term …

Travelling Through Caste, Raj Kumar

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

With its peculiar caste system, India is considered the most stratified of all known societies in human history. This system is ‘peculiar’ as it divides human beings into higher and lower castes and this division is backed by certain religious sanctions based on the sociological concepts of ‘purity’ and ‘pollution’. While the higher caste is associated with ‘purity’, the lower caste is associated with ‘pollution’. The people of the lower castes are not allowed to undertake religious journeys and yet are expected to enable the pilgrimages of the higher castes by playing the role of laborers. Radical Bhakti saint-poets like …

The Politics Of Pilgrimage Through The Prism Of Mass Media, Alokparna Das

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage involves the movement of people either as individuals or as groups in search of what can be described as the sacred. Since pilgrimage is an integral part of Indian culture and has significant participation, pilgrimage sites and centres are being used by political and corporate organisations to communicate specific messages. The political relevance of religion in our contemporary world cannot be disputed, particularly in the context of a growing consumerist culture and the divisive tactics of most political organisations. In such a scenario, pilgrimage traditions and centres are periodically taken over by political groups. As a particular pilgrimage tradition …

Political And Merchant Devotees : Multiple Facets Of Pilgrimage To The Medieval Region Of Braj (16th And 17th Centuries), Swati Goel

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Braj is the epicentre of the Krishna cult. The physical representation of the scriptural Braj Mandala as we see it today, however, is a medieval construct. During the 15th and 16th centuries, as a part of religious exercises or in the quest for the land of Krishna, the propagators of various sampradayas (sects) reached the region seeking spiritual solace. This process of rediscovering Braj and the settlement of the various sects was followed by a thronging of the region by merchant-followers and, subsequently, by Rajput rulers from the adjoining kingdoms of Rajasthan and Bundelkhand. The pilgrimage to Braj created an …

Pilgrimage To The Abode Of A Folk Deity, Rajshree Dhali

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage to the shrines of folk deities differ little from pilgrimages to the centres of the institutionalised Gods. However, the historical evolution of a folk cult and the specific socio-cultural context of the emergence and growth of folk deities provides a different dimension to their religious space. This paper examines pilgrimage to the shrine of the folk deity, Goga that attracts followers from across faiths including Hindus and Muslims. The aim of the paper is to explore the double edged religious process at Gogamedi. First, the growing efforts by Hindu Brahmanical traditions to subdue and unsettle divergent traditions of the …

Pilgrimage, Politics And Surveillance: The Temple Of Jagannath And The Colonial State In Early 19th Century Orissa, Ujaan Ghosh

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The temple of Jagannath became central to colonial politics as early as the first year of British rule in Puri. Throughout the 19th century, the temple was an essential concern for British administrators, both in the colony as well as in the metropolis. In this paper, I demonstrate how pilgrimage became a pivotal anchor surrounding which a convoluted narrative of colonial politics played out. I have looked closely at the concept of ‘itinerancy’ associated with pilgrimage, and have tried to explain how itinerancy in the early 19th century became a governmental hazard for the colonial overlords. The constant fear of …

Pilgrimage As Imagined Site: A Study Of Prayag Tirtha, Ankur Goswami

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The notion of a holy place as an idea - consciously and deliberately constructed - is the topic of this paper. This notion of place is not inherent within the idea but is imagined and ascribed by people’s agency. Here, I will explore the construction of the sacred image associated with the major pilgrimage centre of Prayag (modern day Allahabad). I examine how the organisation of this particular space and the use of knowledge about it has had an impact on the pilgrimage to which it is linked. A preliminary study shows that often the notion of sacred space and …

Kashi And Cosmos: Spatial Manifestation And The Five Pilgrimage Journeys Of Banaras, Rana P.B. Singh, Pravin S. Rana

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Historically, Hindu rituals, sacred journeys, festivities, deities and their symmetrical links, have come together to form sacred spatial systems that are still observed by both pilgrims and devotees. These pilgrimage traditions are deeply rooted in local space / place, as well as in the cultural inheritance and mentality of their adherents. This structure is reflected symbolically in the spatial frame of Hinduism in which both complexity and temporal stability meet, mediating between people and the cosmos, i.e., in a mesocosm. In Varanasi (Banaras/Kashi) this spatial frame is clearly expressed in a series of sacred territorial boundaries defined by pilgrimage routes. …

Author Biographies Vol. 4(Vi)

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

No abstract provided.

Glossary Of Terms Vol. 4(Vi)

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

No abstract provided.

Editorial : Pilgrimages In India: Celebrating Journeys Of Plurality And Sacredness, Ian S. Mcintosh, Neha Singhal, Alokparna Das

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

No abstract provided.

Vol. 4(Vi) - Cover And Table Of Contents

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

No abstract provided.

The Identification And Differentiation Of Festival Stakeholders: A New Perspective, Mathilda Van Niekerk, Donald Getz

Rosen Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This article sets out to identify, differentiate, and categorize festival stakeholders by means of a multidimensional approach. Festivals are coproduced by a collection of stakeholders, and festival organizers facilitate the festival outcomes by interpreting stakeholders' contributions, aims, and concerns. Based on an extensive literature review, a theoretical framework was developed that illustrates how previous studies have typically identified and differentiated festival stakeholders by listing them or by means of a one-dimensional approach. For this study, an online survey was developed and administered to festival organizers in the US, testing the possibility of identifying, differentiating, and grouping festival stakeholders from a …

A Southern Chinese City Through The Eyes Of A British Missionary: Preliminary Analysis Of The Text Of A Historical Travelogue, Sai Deng

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Walks in the City of Canton is a book written by John Henry Gray of Christ's College, Cambridge who came to China and stayed as a missionary for many years, and it was published in 1875. This project did a preliminary analysis of the text of this book digitized by Google from the Library of Harvard University and uploaded to the Internet Archive. The Voyant generated top 500 words are tagged selectively aiming to find the more popular nouns, adjectives and verbs, and their related topics, sentiments or actions. This analysis is combined with the observations obtained in the translation …

Staging Dunhuang Mogao Caves: Treasures From Along The Silk Road, Lanlan Kuang

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Historically a frontier metropolis, Dunhuang was a strategic site along the Silk Road in northwestern China, a crossroads of trade, and a locus for religious, cultural, and intellectual influences since the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.). The 492 caves at the Mogao cliff near the modern town of Dunhuang have served as temples, sites for performative events, and an archive that consisted of medieval Chinese paintings and Buddhist sutras. Today, the Dunhuang Mogao Caves is among one of the most well-known UNESCO heritage sites along the ancient Silk Road. With technological advancements, the staging processes of the Dunhuang Mogao Caves …

Economic Contributions Of The Yellowstone River To Park County, Montana, Jeremy L. Sage

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

On August 19, 2016, Montana’s Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) instituted a temporary emergency closure on a large extent of the Yellowstone River and its tributaries between the northern Yellowstone National Park boundary near Gardiner, MT and Laurel, MT, about 183 miles downriver. The closure applied to all water based recreation uses on the affected rivers and streams. FWP’s actions followed the identification of the presence of an invasive parasite known to cause proliferative kidney disease in mountain whitefish. FWP’s decision to institute the temporary closure was based not only on the observed presence of the parasite, but …

The Montana Expression 2016: Vacation Planning, Norma P. Nickerson

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

The Montana Tourism Advisory Council, Office of Tourism and Business Development, and individuals in the tourism industry are interested in learning more about visitor behavior for a Montana vacation, namely their use of Montana airports and their advanced reservations and purchasing. This “snapshot” of Montana residents and visitors highlight these behaviors.

The Tourism Experience Offered By Religious Theme Parks: Taman Tamadun Islam (Tti) In Malaysia, Gaëlle M. Moal - Ulvoas

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Theme parks are major drivers of tourism development and experience is a central concept in tourism research. This study investigates the experience potential associated with religious theme parks which offer a combination of religious and secular activities. The experiences of visitors to Taman Tamadun Islam (TTI), a Muslim theme park based in Malaysia, are identified through the analysis of visitors’ feedback on Tripadvisor.

The Changing Face Of A Religious City: Tourism And The Perceptional Modernisation Of A Host Community, Yasin Bilim, Ozgur Ozer

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Tourism and its impacts on cultural or religious assets can be contentious issues for some communities, for other communities, however, tourism has been an important part of revenue production. Balancing the outcomes of tourism development is not an easy task particularly for religious sites. Some religious sites have recently become aware of tourism’s positive gains - not so long ago, many religous beliefs did not permit the use of religious values for commercial benefits. In particular, muslims do not allow the selling of religious assets as a form of commercial production. But ‘globalization’ and economic reasons have lead to the …

Walking Labyrinths : Spirituality, Religion And Wellness Tourism, Frances Mcgettigan

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Di Williams’s book Labyrinth - landscape of the soul. (2011) states that labyrinths have been known to the human race for well over 4000 years. They seem to have emerged and re-emerged in several time waves and in slightly differing forms throughout this period. The various forms of labyrinth have a long history, stretching back thousands of years. As a primeval archetype they occur in many parts of the world and in almost all religious traditions. The term is of ancient Greek origin, and the labyrinth in the palace of Knossos in Crete figures in Greek mythology. It is found …

The Determinants Of Tourist Satisfaction In Religious Destinations: The Case Of Montserrat (Spain), Gema Canoves, Josep M. Prat Forga

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

In the last few years, the historic region of Bages in Catalonia (Spain) has developed the tourism advantage it enjoys because of the medieval relics of the monastery of Montserrat that it treasures, to the point of becoming a major resort area. Montserrat is an example of synergies between religious heritage and tourism. On the mountain of Montserrat, religious devotion, regional identity, cultural heritage and linguistic tradition, landscape, and the nearness of Barcelona join together to create a tourist product of great importance. This working paper shows how religious tourism is an expression of the commercialisation of culture and religion. …

Religious Tourism In The Hill Of Tepexpan: A New Research Approach - From Dedifferentiation, Víctor Mora-Torres, Rocío Serrano-Barquín, Héctor Favila-Cisneros, Carolina Serrano-Barquín

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

This theoretical and methodological paper presents research undertaken to comprehend the social dynamic of religious tourism in a traditional sanctuary located in the Hill of Tepexpan, Mexico. Visitor experience, as tourist or pilgrim, has been little studied in Mexican religious tourism literature, which has focused mainly on quantitative and economics aspects. For this reason, a more holistic and comprehensive way to understand the phenomenon is desirable, especially in destinations that receive a variety of visitors with different practices and motivations.

The Tepexpan Hill Sanctuary has been a sacred place since Colonial times for two ethnic groups: Mazahuas and Otomíes. Their …

Kierkegaard’S ‘Repetition’ And Pilgrimage, Stephen F. Haller

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

In 1843, the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard wondered whether it was possible to repeat an experience. He attempted to relive experiences he once had in Berlin by revisiting haunts of his earlier self. After several days, he concluded that his repetition of experience was unsuccessful. Many people make similar attempts at repetition when they make, for example, the pilgrimage to Camino de Santiago multiple times. What could a person hope to gain by this repetition?

What prevents successful repetition, suggests Kierkegaard, is beginning with the end in mind rather than traveling merely to collect random impressions. Repetition fails, argues Kierkegaard, when …

Pilgrimage And Its Dual Functions In Iranian Shiitsm, Zahra Khoshk Jan

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Salvation is the main concern not only for theistic religions but also for atheistic ones, therefore, all of them try to offer doctrines for achieving both salvation and redemption in this world or in another world. Followers of the Twelver Shiism strongly believe in salvation through the Imam. Imamat and Imam, do not just refer to a special person, more than that, they involve a spiritual / worldly doctrine toward a complete and multilateral salvation, and also socio-political leadership. One of the important parts of this doctrine that involves spiritual / worldly salvation is intercession via religious rituals like praying, …

Vol. 4(V) Title Page And Table Of Contents

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

No abstract provided.

Play The Cards, Roll The Dice – The Integration Of Casinos Within Asian Tourism Destination Development Strategy, Glenn Mccartney

UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal

New Asian casino destinations continue to emerge and expand their gambling options. The historical rhetoric of being a panacea to economic and tourism woes continues to dominant decades later. Yet the excessive regulatory environments and taxation regimes by authorities on the casino industry are unlike those applied to other destination tourism products. Once the domain of the United States in the 1990s with entertainment capitals such as Las Vegas and Atlantic City, the proliferation of legalised casino gaming is now accentuated in Asia in destinations such as Macao, Korea, Singapore and the Philippines. As a tourism product, this article highlights …