Spiritual Tourism

Citation: Parsons, H., Houge Mackenzie, S., & Filep, S. (2019). Facilitating self-development: How tour guides broker spiritual tourist experiences. Tourism Recreation Research.  Recent research on co-created tours has suggested that guides broker tourist experiences in four domains: physical access, understanding, encounters, and empathy. However, tour guides’ mediation of an individual’s inner journey or experience has not been a focus of scholarly literature to date. This study addressed this gap in the literature by examining the processes tour guides use to broker guests’ self-development within a spiritual tourism context. Semi-structured interviews conducted with spiritual tourism guides revealed the following common themes and chronological processes that spiritual tourism guides employed to broker guests’ self-development: Preparation (psychological and emotional); Establishing ‘Enclave’ (creating a space of emotional safety); Mentoring (identifying opportunities for growth & development); Facilitating Reflection; and Encouraging Integration. These findings supported the four proposed brokering domains, as well as suggesting a fifth domain: brokering the tourist’s ‘inner journey’ and self-development. The theoretical and practical implications of these brokering domains in relation to spiritual tourism are discussed.

The aim of this paper is to explore the relevance of institutional influences on corporate environmental reporting practices. The wind energy sector in Spain was chosen for analysis because of its rapid growth and significant impact on moves towards cleaner energy production. A content analysis of recent sustainability reports (2005e2009) from seven main wind energy companies facilitated a longitudinal comparison of the levels of compliance with Global Reporting Initiative indicators of sustainability. Results show that initial institutional pressures for reporting have been replaced by imitation by companies of each other's practices leading to a reduction in the differences between environmental disclosures. Results confirm the importance of examining different institutional pressures on disclosure practices to development of policy. However, a key finding is that the disclosures have been minimal and their lack of effectiveness and unreliability mean they are not conducive to the notion of increasing transparency in the wind generated clean energy electricity sector. As a result the credibility of relying on a voluntary sustainability standard, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), as an incentive for informative environmental reporting is challenged.

The academic literature on spiritual tourism is often limited to taxonomies of travel, and reasons for spiritually oriented tourism are analysed largely according to their economic, social and historical aspects. Despite the recent growth in interest in spiritually oriented tourism it has become increasingly apparent that to fully understand the practical implication for the field of spiritual tourism, a theoretical discussion on the discursive shift from a 'religious' to 'spiritual' experience of travel needs to be addressed. Although these concepts have only recently been touched upon in academic travel literature, they have been richly explored in literary travel-focused memoirs. It is the intention of this paper to conflate the theoretical discussion of spiritual tourism with personal accounts written by writers of literary travel memoirs. The first part of the paper will discuss the reasons for travelling for spiritual growth, as opposed to the traditional notion of religious pilgrimage supported by Michel Foucault's theory of the heterogeneous aspects of discursive formation. The second part of the paper looks into the existing ty-pologies of spiritual tourism and compares them to Joseph Campbell's (1973) stages of a mythic quest. Lastly, the third part supports the academic discussion with brief excerpts from three literary spiritual travel memoirs.

Spiritual tourism has been proposed as a phenomenon in leisured travel. It is defined as tourism characterised by a self-conscious project of spiritual betterment. A small number of scholars have commented on it both directly and indirectly, and it is clear from these reports that there are a wide variety of practices in a great many locations around the world. What has not received sufficient scholarly treatment yet is the phenomenological taxonomy of spiritual tourist experiences, in part due to the divergent conceptions of what the term encompasses. By proposing a focused yet malleable frame of reference for the term it is possible to create a taxonomy that is empirically driven and that has application in the broader field of tourism studies. As such, this article argues that spiritual tourist experiences should be roughly grouped into five varietal categories – healing, experimental, quest, retreat, and collective – that often overlap, and which serve to illuminate broader social currents in Western societies.

Malaysia as an Islamic country is promoting tourism worldwide so as to attract more tourists to visit Malaysia. Islamic tourism is associated with the religious, spiritual and cultural aspects of tourism. Malaysia is a peaceful and harmonious country of various races and religions. There are also a lot of attractive destinations that are situated in every state in Malaysia. It was reported in 2009, a total of 284,890 Arab tourists came to Malaysia for various reasons such as for shopping, studying and experiencing the multicultural fiestas here. This paper is investigating the various features and popular destinations of Islamic tourism as practiced in Malaysia. Using a qualitative approach, the data was collected from books, journals, magazines, websites and documents. This paper will contribute towards a better understanding about Islamic tourism and Malaysia destinations for tourist.

RESUMEN El turismo religioso es una opción estratégica de desarrollo para muchos destinos. Requiere orientación al turismo, importante inversión de capital privado y público, y pre-disposición de las autoridades eclesiásticas para adaptarse a las necesidades del visitante. Este artículo examina el turismo religioso de carácter católico en distintos lugares de México y Europa y valora implicaciones relacionadas con el ciclo de vida. Finalmente, se hacen recomendaciones para desarrollar el potencial de los lugares analizados, y para el avance del concepto de ciclo de vida de destinos turísticos religiosos. Palabras clave: turismo religioso, ciclo de vida de un destino. Life-cycle stages in religious tourism development: a comparison of case studies ABSTRACT The religious tourism is a strategic development option for many destinations. It requires a tourism orientation, significant private and public capital investment, and a willingness on the part of religious authorities to adapt to visitor needs. The aim of this article is to examine the development of Catholic tourism in different Mexican and European regions and assess related life-cycle implications. Recommendations are made for developing the potential of

Over the past few decades, Daoism has become a recognizable part of Western alternative spiritual life. Now, that Westernized version of Daoism is going full circle, traveling back from America and Europe to influence Daoism in China. Dream Trippers draws on more than a decade of ethnographic work with Daoist monks and Western seekers to trace the presence and spread of Westernized Daoism in contemporary China. David A. Palmer and Elijah Siegler take us into the daily life of the monastic community atop the mountain of Huashan, exploring its relationship to the socialist state; detail the international circuit of Daoist "energy tourism," which connects a number of sites throughout China; and examine the controversies around Western scholars who become practitioners and promoters of Daoism. They conclude with lively portrayals of encounters among the book's various characters—Chinese hermits and monks, Western seekers, and scholar-practitioners— as they interact with each other in obtuse, often humorous, and sometimes enlightening and transformative ways. Dream Trippers untangles the anxieties, confusions, and ambiguities that arise as the Chinese and American practitioners work through the tensions between cosmological attunement and radical spiritual individualism in their complex search for authenticity in a globalized world.

Pilgrimage is one of the oldest and most basic forms of population mobility known to human society, and its political, social, cultural and economic implications have always been, and continue to be, substantial. The size and economic significance of tourism industry have attracted the attention of many countries in actively promoting tourism as a way to stimulate their economies such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Nepal. The world tourism organization has recognized the potential of tourism sector for the purpose of poverty alleviation by increased job creation; consequently, many developing countries are improving their tourism planning and developments approaches. The objective of this research article is to study and examine the key issues, satisfaction level of tourist and determinants of spiritual tourism and problems faced by tourist in Himachal Pradesh. To understand the problems and challenges related to this Pilgrimage tourism in Himachal Pradesh, we categorized these forces into two categories one in continuous and another in change forces. After categorization of factors we will analyze their importance then divide continuous forces in to vital, desirable and burden category and divide change forces into high, medium and low impact forces. After doing VDB and Impact analysis we will map these force into CC Matrix (Change and continuity Matrix) to form strategic crystal. This strategic crystal help us to draw strategic landscape where we can understand the current situation in Matrix and from here we can draw "to be" strategy to improve the level of spiritual tourism in this district by keeping tourism arrival as our main focus. Therefore in this paper we will be discuss about the determinants, Challenges and problems faced by Tourism Industry, which led to the change in their strategy time to time but there is a need to form an detailed strategy to work on problems along with exact solution. Hence to frame flexible strategy requires emphasis on the continuity as well as on change forces which will give us a picture of Pilgrimage tourism and help us to frame strategy by aligning the change and continuity forces in strategic landscape.

Templestay, the cultural experience program accommodating foreign and domestic visitors to Korean Buddhist temples, is one of the most successful and popular heritage tourism products of contemporary South Korea. Noting the interwoven relationship between Korean Buddhism, the state's heritage policies, spiritual tourism, contemporary brand culture, and new digital media, this research explores how the branding practices and narrative of Templestay in digital spaces newly shape the presence of Korean Buddhism in the contemporary social world that is inevitably imagined and constantly (re)mediated. Despite Templestay's efforts to anchor Korean Buddhism in the locations of tradition, spirituality, the sacred, the self, and authenticity in the contexts of late-modernity and globalization, this research finds, the public presence of Korean Buddhism, mediated by digital media and branding practice, constantly oscillates between the secular and the sacred, the global and the local, modernity and tradition, tourism and spirituality, the market and the self, and commodity and authenticity. It is the dilemma of Korean Buddhism that the spontaneous employment of digital media and branding practices for sustaining and fixing its public presence in this highly mediated and networked social world, inevitably generates the ambivalence and in-betweenness of the mediated presence of Korean Buddhism.

Spiritual tourism is different from religious tourism. Spiritual tourism is a tourism activity where tourists seek for spiritual experiences with no religion concern; while religious tourism is an ativity in relation with religion. Tourism stakeholders do not have clear undestanding yet of the difference between spiritual and religious tourism. This preliminary study is aimed to explore perspectives of tourism stakeholders in Bali for their understanding of spiritual tourism. A number of 23 samples stakeholders were taken from news of online media to find out their perspectives on spiritual tourism. They were divided into four categories, namely elements of goverment 4 samples, scholars 3 samples, tourism bussines practitioners 7 samples, and spiritual practitioners 8 samples. There were 3 main variables utilised to measure relationship between spiritual and religious tourism, such as Balinese culture, nature, and Hindu religion, including temples, ritual, and costumes. It was found that all stakeholders put weight on Balinese culture and nature. It means they all agreed that it was potential to develop spiritual tourism in Bali since it was supported by Balinese culture and nature. Tri Hita Karana, a Balinese local genius, had strong attention among stakeholders. On the other hand, their perspectives on relationship between spiritual tourism and Hindu religion varied among themselves. All elements of stakeholders put temples as part of activities of spiritual tourism. While inclusion of other aspects of Hindu religion, such as ritual and costume were still seen from perspective of the tourism bussines practitioners. Seen from the fact, the government must have initiative to set a meeting among all parties concerned to make one understanding of spiritual tourism, to put as regulation by the government.

This paper discusses the emergence of a modern pilgrimage industry in India as depicted in the autobiographical accounts of Khatag Dzamyag, a 20th-century Khampa trader. The propagandistic activities of modern pan-Buddhist societies, together with the re-opening of ancient sites of Indian Buddhism, contributed to revitalising the concept of India as a “holy land” among Tibetan pilgrims, for most of whom a journey to the Middle Ganges region represented the first encounter with modernity; trains, motorcars, and boats were wonders to be thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated. Leisure appears to be a crucial component in the development of forms of spiritual tourism; the 19th and 20th centuries marked, in their own way, a “leisure revolution” in global terms. Following Dzamyag’s narrative, I will elucidate how new forms of “spiritual tourism”, created and fostered by pan-Buddhist movements like the Maha Bodhi Society, contributed to transforming the experience of pilgrimage into a growing commercialisation of leisure, especially for the representatives of the highest strata of Tibetan society, who had the necessary resources to finance their leisure activities.

Globalization and digitization are motivating organizations around the world to manage and internationalize their products and services. Adaptively, most Asian companies are internationalizing their businesses with respect to various industries; one obvious example is the tourism industry. The global tourism industry can be segmented into niche types such as heritage tourism, dark tourism, medical tourism, including spiritual tourism. The objective of this paper is to analyze the rise of spiritual tourism in South Asian countries and discusses its operations that are internationalized rather than being region-centric or locally focused. It is argued that public and private tourism operators in South Asia have realized that spiritual tourism presents an attractive product to invest and market based on people, places, and events. However, the challenge is to internationalize multi-faith spiritual tourism in the context of people, places, and events that would be the only way to develop and sustain this niche segment of the tourism business. It is discussed that there are various factors that could enable South Asian countries to effectively internationalize their spiritual tourism destinations. The paper concludes that business internationalization of South Asian spiritual tourism, will not only achieve economic development objectives, but also social and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and bi-lateral diplomatic goals for regional peace and prosperity.

The musical aspect of religious tourism is currently amongst the less investigated themes. A first survey suggests that although it does not appear to be the main motivation for religious travel, it is a valued component of the experience. The aim of this study is to explore how sounds operate to forge social and spiritual identifications on the principles of Lefebvre’s rhythm analysis (2004).
This paper contributes to the emerging field of experiential tourism research by confirming that religious experiences are not only interior but also involve sensory experiences. It follows that tourists’ sensory experiences should be a key component of any comprehensive tourist satisfaction assessment. In an empirical case study in cities of Southern Italy we explored the phenomenon of religious bands. This is part of an ongoing study that employs music, religion and tourism as a platform, situating music as a basis for advocating engagement with spirituality and religion tourism

Prehistoric monuments in Britain are sites that have ‘drawn’ people throughout history, due to their impressive size, dramatic location in the landscape, and the sense of permanence and timelessness they convey. The religious attraction of such stones for modern Pagans has been studied in some detail, particularly in terms of renowned circles like Stonehenge and Avebury, but the appeal that Neolithic monuments have for ‘spiritual tourists’ has not been assessed to date. This article focuses on the Rollright Stones near Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, a relatively accessible group of monuments that has an established body of folklore attached to the site, a profile in popular culture, and a recent history of use by modern Pagans as a ritual site. The author’s fieldwork at the Rollright Stones in 2014 produced three interrelated hypotheses: first, the primary appeal of prehistoric monuments for ‘spiritual tourists’ is aesthetic; second, that responding aesthetically to such monuments is an experience that feels ‘special’ to spiritual tourists and often involves an experience of the ‘numinous’; and third, this ‘specialness’ is linked to ideas about what it means to be human, the relationship of the past to the present and future, and to the process of identity-construction and the search for wellbeing that spiritual tourists typically engage with in their travels.

This article seeks to address the somewhat contentious issue regarding the marketing and selling of spirituality as a highly sought-after commodity in the West at present. Findings of ethnographic case study research conducted at two spiritual retreat tourism sites in New Zealand are presented. Spirituality will be framed though the conceptualisations and definitions provided by tourist and tourist host participants. The perceptions of people engaged in spiritual retreat tourism will be discussed alongside issues surrounding the commoditisation and commodification of spirituality. The critical analysis provided in this article has led the researcher to conclude that it may be a condition of modern capitalist society that people feel comfortable and are willing to pay for spiritual experiences. The case studies presented may be considered ‘best practice’ examples of when spirituality is commodified in an ethical way according to the consumers involved.

This chapter aims to characterize, classify and evaluate interpretation and narratives in religious tourism, as well as to indicate trends and future development directions. In addition, the popularity of guidebooks contributed to the broadening of narration and encouraged visitors to independently, yet supported by interpretation, focus on the educational and cultural values of religious tourism. Due to the nature and broad spectrum of impact of this approach, it can be described as 'extended interpretation'. From the end of the twentieth century, 'participatory interpretation' has become popular. Participatory interpretation, at least in its initial form, did not take into account the notion of authenticity, which so many tourists seek. Due to the ease of falling into a routine during the so-called systematic or repetitive interpretation-common in the case of the guide's work, oral communication should be conducted so that it is easy to read and understand and be respectful of the worldviews of recipients.

Ayahuasca is the most common term which refers to a plant based hallucinogenic beverage made with the jungle lianas Banisteriopsis Caapi (Schultes 1972:35; De Rios 1984:8). Through a review of this literature, my project evaluates how the changing geographic boundaries, cultural context and worldview of ayahuasca users alter the intention and meaning of ayahuasca usage. This paper provides a contextual overview of hallucinogenic plants in Central and South America, key themes in shamanism and Amazonian shamanism. Local Amazonian ayahuasca use in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, Brazilian ayahuasca religions, neo-shamanism and ayahuasca drug tourism literature is presented and analyzed drawing upon Van Gennep’s (1960) “Rites de Passage”, Victor Turner’s (1970) “Liminality”, Shaw and Stewart’s (2003) problematization of syncretism and Grimes’ (1992) characteristics of the reinvention of ritual. Literature regarding therapeutic/medicinal ayahuasca use and ayahuasca legality is also presented. I argue recent and contemporary ayahuasca use may utilize traditional elements of Amazonian shamanism, though depart from Indigenous cosmology as ideologies governing it’s use become syncretic, institutionalized and influenced by Western individualism.

In ancient era, devotees used to go to the temple and donate some part of their income to get spiritual satisfaction or 'punya' in Hindi. In modern, materialistic world of today, such donations are treated as revenue of the temple and spiritual satisfaction is treated as the end service provided by the priests or care takers of a temple. This altered treatment with our spiritual behavior is termed as 'spiritual marketing' by modern economists.India is a developing economy facing this change in treatment of our spirituality also.Amazingly India's spiritual and religious market is estimated to be over $30 billion. Thus each and every temple/religious place of the country has become an operating unit of this spiritual industry and contributes to its revenue. This transformation is affecting all the religions of Indian populationin this modern era of online Prasad, online 'Katha' telling and online darshana. Originality and truth of spirituality seems dwindling in the country .But in this materialistic age, it is nice to have seen a temple which is above all sorts of ill-treatments to spirituality while generating revenues, instead it is trying to survive through traditional and ethical tools of marketing for years. The author has tried to analyze these tools used by Harshad Mata Temple (Abhaneri) to market itself to the devotees/visitors.(The temple here stands for management of the temple).The analysis may be used to develop more efficient and ethical marketing strategy, after identifying increasing demands of various segments of visitors with varying interests and demands.

In this paper, the phenomenon of “Places of Power” is discussed from a cultural, cognitive and psychophysical perspective in order to understand the specific mental state of people who sense the existence of "places of power" as well as the specific circumstances of their perception. Therefore, characteristics of modern life such as commercialisation, consumption and permanent connectedness are examined in order to explain widespread mental complaints such as burn-out or diverse forms of addiction. In this context, calming “places of power” are conceptualized as offering shelter from the pressures of the modern world. In the framework of Antonovsky’s concept of a “Sense of Coherence,” such places protect a person temporarily against irritations arising from daily life, allowing them to re-establish inner peace and orientation. To better explain the important social effects of distancing oneself from peer-groups in order to “transcend” social constraints, the tradition of pilgrimage is discussed. This traditional collective visitation of officially recognized “places of power” is explained using Maslow’s concept of the “hierarchy of needs”. Finally, this concept is adapted to natural places that could serve as individual “power places”, and the fundamental requirements needed to promote such places in the context of mental health tourism are discussed.

RESUMEN El objetivo del presente trabajo es mostrar la experiencia de la región de los Altos de Jalisco, con respecto al imaginario difundido para su promoción turística y el impacto que ha tenido en sus visitantes. Para ello, se hizo una revisión bibliográfica de diversos artículos acerca de turismo religioso tanto de sitios nacionales como internacionales, así como de artículos que tienen que ver con turismo y crecimiento económico o turismo y planeación económica. De igual forma se realizó la revisión y análisis del material promocional turístico de la región alteña, y se levantaron 1,500 encuestas a turistas para identificar el motivo de visita y el conocimiento que se tienes sobre la región. Como resultado se han podido encontrar datos que muestran que la difusión de esta región realizada por la dependencia gubernamental responsable de ello, y su estrategia para desarrollar una ruta turística ha tenido un impacto mínimo en los turistas. En conclusión, a diferencia del turismo religioso europeo, el de los Altos sigue teniendo más carácter devocional a pesar de los esfuerzos para su promoción turística. Palabras clave: Turismo Religioso – San Juan de los Lagos – Santo Toribio – Altos de Jalisco – Guerra Cristera ABSTRACT RELIGION AS A TOURISTIC PRODUCT: THE ALTOS DE JALISCO (MEXICO) CASE. This paper aims at showing the experience of the region of the Altos de Jalisco (Mexico), regarding the imaginary world diffused for its touristic promotion and how it had impacted visitors. We initiate by a review of the literature about religious tourism in Mexico and other countries, as well as about tourism and economic growth, and tourism and economic planning. We also analyzed the touristic promotional material of the region. A thousand and five hundreds tourists were inquired about their motives and their knowledge of the region. Our results show data which indicates that the government diffusion of this region, as well at the strategy to create a touristic itinerary, have had a very small influences over tourists. We conclude that, differently from the European religious tourism, the Altos de Jalisco tourism presents a more devoted haracter in spite of the efforts made for its touristic promotion.

The religious tourism is a strategic development option for many destinations. The World Tourism Organization (2008) estimates that between 300 and 330 million people travel annually for religious purposes, creating an economic impact of around 13,000 million euros. And these numbers kept rising in the last few years. However, although there is a growing body of literature relating to religious tourism, few studies have compared religious destinations for purposes of benchmarking or developing life-cycle theory. The examination of religious tourism development in four Catholic sanctuary towns, founded after the apparitions of the Virgin Mary, in Europe, by Ambrosio and Pereira (2007) provided a starting point. These authors analyzed Banneux (Belgium), Fatima (Portugal), Knock (Ireland) and Lourdes (France). The variables that help understand the ways in which these towns have developed are: (i) the seers' level of consecration; (ii) the construction of a basilica to celebrate the centenary of the apparitions; and (iii) the facilities for overnight visitors. Finally, the authors propose a life-cycle model that adds two variables to the Butler's model: (i) construction of religious structures; and (ii) accommodation and commercial facilities. The aim of this paper is to examine the development of Catholic tourism in different Mexican and European regions and assess related life-cycle implications. In addition, recommendations are made for developing the potential of the Mexican religious regions, and for advancement of the religious tourism destination life-cycle concept. First, the development of religious tourism in three Mexican Catholic destinations (San Juan de los Lagos, Santa Ana de Guadalupe and Talpa de Allende, in Jalisco) was analysed, based on in-depth document reviews, field visits and interviews with key informants. Specifically, semi-structured interviews with representatives of ecclesiastical institutions, local politicians and the business sector, all related to the religious tourism sector, were conducted in 2009. In total, 45 interviews, which were contrasted with documents, published and unpublished, and supplemented by statistical data of the Mexico's Tourism Ministry (SECTUR), the Jalisco Estate Information System (SEIJAL) and the Jalisco's Tourism Department (SETUJAL).

The twentieth century saw travel for leisure or pleasure –  tourism –  reach a position of centrality in the cultural praxis of large swathes of Western society. Situated as a component part of larger trends such as social mobility, consumerism, individual freedom, and eclectic postmodernity, travel quickly acquired a multivocal capability in Western narrative. To travel for leisure became a statement of means, of class (for example, Butlins in contrast with St Moritz), and of identity, but also of belief, desire, and fantasy. These were tropes familiar from the accounts of Grand Tourists, medieval pilgrims, and other travellers throughout prior centuries. However, travel also became mundane; something expected of a normal person, and, in certain ways, something to be loathed. At the same time, changes in the religious topography of the West were also afoot. These changes have often been characterised as the result of ‘secularisation’ or ‘modernity’, though these concepts have been heavily critiqued in recent years.  What can certainly be said is that the religious landscape of the West demonstrated certain numerically small, though thematically important, changes that indicated, amongst other things, a turn ‘Eastwards’, as Colin Campbell has asserted.  That is, we can observe an increasing openness to ideas of a non-Western origin (even given the problems attendant upon representations of ‘the East’ highlighted by Edward Said) for religious and spiritual inspiration. It has become clear that in the Western cultural milieu, this was, in part, fuelled by the writings of Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, one of founders of the Theosophical Society, and her followers and heirs.  Their legacy has been the normalisation of travel to countries such as India for the purposes of spiritual benefit.