Tourism Commons^™

The Increasing Value Of Cultural Routes And Religious Itineraries For Potential Tourism Destinations., Elisa Piva, Stefania Cerutti

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

The increasing value of Cultural Routes and Religious Itineraries for potential tourism destinations.

Osaka’S Thirteen Buddhas: The Proliferation Of Modern Japanese Pilgrimage Routes Extended Abstract, Greg Wilkinson

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Osaka’s Thirteen Buddha Pilgrimage is a route through the greater Osaka area to Buddhist temples. Thirteen Buddha pilgrimage routes have experienced growth in participation over the past few years. This new popularity has increased the number of thirteen Buddha pilgrimages routes. This proliferation in routes are a phenomenon, which deserves attention because pilgrimage participation is often used not only as an illustration of a specific religious practice but also a significant variable in the continuing discourse about Japan’s secularization (Reader 2012). This study investigates more specifically Osaka’s thirteen Buddha pilgrimage sites and how each has become a location for multiple …

Long-Distance Walking In 'The Way': Promises Of Healing And Redemption, Warwick Frost, Jennifer Laing

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Films can be a source of inspiration to travel and influence imaginings about travel (Frost, 2010; Frost and Laing, 2015). This paper analyses the depiction of long-distance walking as an activity that promotes healing in The Way (2010); a film about pilgrims on the Camino Way in Spain. The motif of redemption is used to understand this cinematic narrative. It is the third pillar of ‘the Christian eschatological narratives of sin, sacrifice and redemption’ (Taylor, 2001: 10), but also a common element in many sacred stories (McAdams et al., 2001), where the sinner atones for what they have done and …

The Proliferation, Commercialization, And Secularization Of The Seven Gods Of Good Fortune Pilgrimages In Modern Japan, Daniel H. Olsen, Greg Wilkinson

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Osaka’s Thirteen Buddha Pilgrimage is a route through the greater Osaka area to Buddhist temples. Thirteen Buddha pilgrimage routes have experienced growth in participation over the past few years. This new popularity has increased the number of thirteen Buddha pilgrimages routes. This proliferation in routes are a phenomenon, which deserves attention because pilgrimage participation is often used not only as an illustration of a specific religious practice but also a significant variable in the continuing discourse about Japan’s secularization (Reader 2012). This study investigates more specifically Osaka’s thirteen Buddha pilgrimage sites and how each has become a location for multiple …

Emotional Connection, Cognitive Engagement And Post-Experience Behaviours In Religious Site Visits: A Search On Mawlana Museum In Konya, Turkey, Özgür Özer, Feridun Duman, Özlem Güzel

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

This study looks at different motives that tourists experience for their vacations and visit different holiday destinations. Tourist experiences are more than physical travels to places. Therefore, major tourist destinations associate themselves with sacred people e.g. St. Philipius or Virgin Mary, sometimes a Sufi such as Mawlana or Khoja Ahmed Yasawi. These associations with the sacred people create emotional connections and cognitive engagements with these destinations. These emotional connections and cognitive engagements in turn lead to destination loyalty. Within this context, this study specifically aims at (1) exploring the effects of religious sites on emotional connections and cognitive engagements, (2) …

Sanctuaries And Catholic Kitsch: Hypertrophy Of Devotional Production, Fiorella Giacalone

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

For the pilgrim has always been important to establish a link with places of worship, notably by buying religious souvenirs, prayer cards, postcards. The devotional objects, the Catholic kitsch have become a sort hypertrophy of bad taste. The purchase of household objects, statues of the saint, become central components of the trip and remember the same pilgrimage. The paper deals with the dynamics of the religious Kitsch in Cascia and Assisi in Umbria, Italy.

The methodology used is ethnography and observation in the cities of Assisi and Cascia. I have collected many Christian kitsch objects and pictures of the saints …

Developing Spiritual Tourism For Youngsters, The Spirit-Youth Example, Silvia Aulet, Judit Diaz, Dolors Vidal

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Spiritual tourism was coined from an academic standpoint only recently, probably because the word spiritual is difficult to define and the label can therefore include different types of supply. Spiritually motivated tourists are an emerging niche (Aulet, Vidal-Casellas, & Crous, 2015). According to UNTWO estimates, around 330 million tourists visit the main religious sites each year, spiritual motivation being one of the most important reasons for this (Lanquar, 2007). Bywater (1994) also mentioned that spiritual travel occupies an important segment of international tourism and has been growing steadily.

SPIRIT-Youth is a COSME project (COSME-TOUR-2015-3-04) funded by the European Commission’s Executive …

Religious Tourism In The Diaspora: Orthodox Christian Monasteries In North America, Dino Bozonelos

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Religious tourism is flourishing in North America. There is a growing number of sacred sites in the U.S. and Canada that have been popularized by religious tourists. As Olsen (2016) notes, many of these sacred sites were founded by immigrant groups, seeking to recreate reinvent sacred sites they would visit in their homeland. This is especially true among the Orthodox Christian diaspora, where visiting monastic orders for prayer and spiritual reflection is a strong part of one’s Orthodox identity. In addition, Orthodox monasteries have become popular visits with non-Orthodox Christian Americans and Canadians, who come for the serenity and peace …

Religious Tourism & The Azorean Diaspora In The Usa, Cristina Carvalho, Vitor Ambrósio

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

The article focuses on the Azorean diaspora in North America in historic and cultural terms. The analysis of official tourist reports and inquiries, newspaper articles and Online sources allow us to perceive which generations preserve the religious factor as pivotal for the attendance of the events, and which one/s already reveal shifting trends.

Religion is still an important element to summon the Azorean diaspora spread across the USA. The Ecce Homo procession is celebrated in towns like Fall River (Massachusetts) and Half Moon Bay (California), although Ponta Delgada (São Miguel island) still remains the devotional core – the former and …

The Body Of Christ (“Corpus Christi”): Feast, Devotion And Local/Regional Tourism In Sao Manuel City (Brazil), Gílson De Lima Garófalo, Terezinha Filgueiras De Pinho

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

The contribution addresses the ceremony of The Body of Christ (“Corpus Christi”) in a town in the interior of Brazil in Sao Paulo State - the city of Sao Manuel, where since the 1940s the celebration mobilizes almost the a significant part of the local population in the task of embellishing the streets covered by the procession. Preparations include choice or defining drawings for walkways and ornamental rugs, arrangements concerning the material, including, in specific cases, the artificial coloring, molding, demarcation of soil, divulgation and logistics support to tourists, cleaning of streets post event and alike. The research …

Cultural And Religious Tourism - The Case Of The Tesouro Da Misericórdia Museum, Joaquim Antunes, Henrique Almeida, Cristina Barroco

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

This paper describes the process of implementation and development of “Tesouro da Misericórdia Museum”, a museum that was born in the building of the Misericórdia church in the city of Viseu (Portugal) and has contributed to improvement the tourism activity in the region. The methodology of the study was based on a structured interview with the director of the museum and on surveys of visitors of the museum, in order to perceive the profile of the tourist who visits the museum. A total of 101 questionnaires were collected and analyzed. Finally, future development strategies are presented in an interdisciplinary perspective, …

Smart Media Technologies Impact On The Spiritual Experience Of Hajj Pilgrims, Jahanzeeb Qurashi, Richard A. Sharpley

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Over the last two decades, information and communication technologies have advanced rapidly and continue to do so. Currently, the popularity and spread of SMART Media Technologies (SMT) is not only transforming the lives of tourists around the world in general, but is impacting on the experience of pilgrims on the Hajj in Saudi Arabia in particular,(Brdesee et al, 2013). Indeed, the Saudi government has undertaken a number of initiatives to encourage the use of SMT in the religious tourism industry, (Majid, 2016).

Specifically, the availability of SMT services such as Hajj Apps, E-bracelets for pilgrims, free WIFI and mobile charging …

The Influence Of Facebook In The Holiday Decision Making Of Muslim Women In The Uk, Imran Khan

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Muslim consumer segment now represents the Fourth ‘Billion’ segment after China, India, and women overall in all around the world. Muslim population is increasing faster than the other segments in the UK. Muslim women play a significant role in family decision-making. Yet, researchers have neglected this segment. On the other hand, internet plays a vital role in decision-making and likewise, social media is influencing the family decision-making. Furthermore, women have an influential role at following stages of decision-making specifically in holiday decision making: information search, information processing, and determination of specific holiday package. Muslim population is growing very fast in …

Applying A Systems (Holistic) Approach To Religious Tourism, Tadeja Jere Jakulin, Alan Clarke Professor

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

This paper explores the ways in which the rigour of systems thinking can underpin critical research in religious tourism. Following a brief introduction of the principles of analytical systems approaches, the paper elaborates how these principles can drive analyses of religious tourism.

Systems approach is a methodology for complex phenomena research, theory and cybernetics, the disciplines, which play an important role in different fields of scientific research. Hereby we will present the tourism system from systems point of view with special regards on religious tourism.

Systems Approach uses a different process. It puts the system in the context of the …

Motivations For Pilgrimage: Why Pilgrims Travel El Camiño De Santiago, Angela Antunes, Suzanne Amaro, Carla Henriques

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Given the importance and rise of religious tourism, this study aims to identify pilgrims’ motivations to undertake the Camiño de Santiago and examine differences regarding socio demographics and other characteristics. An online questionnaire was used to collect data from pilgrims that had travelled the Camiño de Santiago at least once. A total of 1,140 valid responses were collected from 45 different nationalities. The results indicate that pilgrims are mostly motivated by spiritual aspects, by wanting new experiences, for the outdoor experience and for cultural reasons. Religious motivations and fulfilling promises are the factors with the lowest averages, demonstrating that modern …

Religion Or Fandom? Secular Ritual In Pop-Culture Pilgrimage, Kyungjae Jang

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

This paper aims to consider the meaning of secular ritual in pop-culture tourism, and to clarify the role of social media as a tool for making and transmitting secular ritual, focuses on Asian fans’ pilgrimage of Japanese mixed media Love Live! School Idol Project.

The paper first introduces contemporary sacred meaning-making as a theoretical framework. Then, based on anthropological research, the paper analyses how secular ritual is made and transmitted, focuses on Asian fans’ popular-culture pilgrimages. The specific popular culture work chosen, after five years of participatory research in Japanese popular culture-related pilgrimage, was an event related to the Japanese …

Religious And Pilgrimage Tourism: A Path To Sufism, Tariq Elhadary

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

The paper attempts to shed some light on religious tourism as a broad term which lends itself to cover Muslim tourism, Christian tourism, or any other religion linked with the term ‘tourism’. The paper likens religious tourism to Sufi travel and wander. It inquires about the similarities between Sufi wander and religious tourism, and what they both have in common. Moreover, how far and true religious tourism embodies the essence of Sufism in its search for love, peace, and knowledge. Sufism embraces love as a means of transformation to better human beings; Where does religious tourism stand as far as …

The Customisation Of 'Religion' In The Context Of Iran, Hossein Godazgar, Shiva Velayati

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

In the first four centuries of Islam in Iran, Mosques were arguably the only sacred places for Iranian Muslims to pray. It was only after the invasion of the Mongolians and the resulting expansion of Shi’ism and Sufism throughout the country that the tombs of some sacred figures became shrines and important sites for pilgrims. Examples of these include the shrines of Hazrat-e Ma’asoumeh in Qom and Imam Reza in Mashad. Other tombs were developed to a smaller scale and are generally called ‘Maqbarahs’, which mainly embraces those of the descendants of twelve Imams (Imamzadehs) and spiritual Sufi figures. Maqbarahs …

Pilgrimage Motivations Of Motorbiking Vicars From Leeds Diocese, Ruth Dowson Rev.

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

The new Church of England Diocese of Leeds was instituted in April 2014. To mark this development, a group of motorcycling vicars began to meet regularly and undertake ‘rides out’, across the diocese and further afield. Through a series of semi-structured interviews and more informal conversations with the Biker Revs, including staying with them at religious destinations on two longer trips in 2016 and 2017, this research investigates their experiences and motivations for undertaking pilgrimage on motorbikes. As a basis for comparison, this paper utilizes Michalowski and Dubisch’s 2001 iconic ethnographic research on an American motorcycle pilgrimage, to analyse the …

The Possibility Of Pilgrimage In A Scientific World, Stephen Haller

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

This paper discusses the conflict between science and religion in the context of pilgrimage. Since a scientific world-view rules out many ideas which are traditionally associated with pilgrimage, such as miracles and the effectiveness of prayer, it seems that pilgrimage might be a practice inconsistent with the modern scientific age. Attempts have been made to reconcile this conflict by arguing that science and religion do not conflict, but are non-overlapping spheres of inquiry. Thus, it is possible to make sense of pilgrimage in a scientific age, if one strips their pilgrimage of all aspects to which science might object. However, …