50 research outputs found
Tourism studies perspectives on pilgrimage
No full textIn Chapter 7: Tourism Studies Perspectives on Pilgrimage, Jaeyeon Choe acknowledges that “a tourist is half a pilgrim, if a pilgrim is half a tourist” (Turner & Turner, 1978, p. 20). As tourism studies is a “young field of study,” which was initially a subset concern of anthropology and sociology, the discipline’s scope and method of inquiry has expanded in scope and draws “from disciplinary tools and frameworks found in anthropology, geography, history, economics, psychology, ecology, business, and management studies... as well as environmental studies, urban planning, and development studies” (p. 137). In its original form, pilgrimage is “the oldest form of tourism” and pilgrimage’s link with religion is tightly knit. Choe notes the growth of secular pilgrimage as a major focus of tourism studies and the tension between pilgrimage and tourism with the “political, socio-cultural, behavioural, economic, and geographical” underpinnings of each. Tourism scholars are steadily publishing books, articles, special issues, organising conferences, and founding journals such as the International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage. She further identifies new topics in the research field of tourism include New Age pilgrimage, religious tourism, heritage tourism, cultural tourism, spiritual tourism, dark tourism, and literary pilgrimage. Many of the new topical subsets highlight the flux in secular tourism, or new age/naive, self-fulfilment spiritualism (e.g., Eat, Pray, Love) with serious intentions such as transformation and healing through the endurance of the journey and the incorporation of ritual. Choe further asserts that viewing pilgrimage, from the perspective of tourism research, has vast potentials of hitherto unconsidered material to interpret and integrate into the discipline. She identifies topics for future research consideration such as sustainability, eschewing Eurocentric dominance in the field inquiry, and virtual tourism, which have resulted from remote approaches during periods of travel restriction
Review of: Religious Tourism and the Environment
Full text linkDespite increasing scholarly attention on the environmental impacts of tourism, there has been little research on the environmental impacts of religious tourism and pilgrimage. As the oldest form of tourism, millions of people continue to travel to sacred places across the globe each year. In addition, despite the continuous growth of religious festivals and ceremonies at sacred sites such as Kumbh Mela, India, the impact of religious tourism on the environment and its role in the sustainable development of destinations is under explored. Religious Tourism and Environment edited by Kiran A. Shinde and Daniel H. Olsen is an original edited book, which focuses on the interrelationships between religion, tourism and the environment.
Pilgrimage to Mount Bromo, Indonesia.
Full text linkAn analysis of pilgrimage among the Tengger people of Java
Sustainable and inclusive spiritual tourism development in Bali as a long-term post-pandemic strategy
Full text linkThe COVID-19 pandemic caused devastating socio-economic impacts in tourism destinations around the world. Many governments and tourism authorities could use the pandemic to seek more sustainable tourism development futures; for example, pre-pandemic Bali’s ‘tourism boom’ barely benefited local people and local businesses because of economic leakage and ‘tourist bubbles’. With an increasing demand on spiritual travel in the post pandemic period, Bali is seeking new opportunities as a spiritual tourism destination. This opportunity is based on their rich cultural and natural resources, and living heritage that can be related to spiritual tourism activities. This spiritual tourism development can contribute to local communities by creating sustainable livelihoods and providing diverse income sources as well as helping revitalise the local spiritual culture. However, tourism activities should be connected to, involve and empower local people and communities. Beyond the luxury yoga resort developments, governments, tourism authorities and large businesses should invest in supporting small-scale spiritual tourism businesses, so as to build more sustainable and inclusive spiritual tourism futures. This type of development would serve evolving tourist interests, as greater numbers of tourists prefer small-scale, community-based and cultural experiences, prefer to travel to remote and rural areas, and like to engage in spiritual practices and activities for their psychological recovery. Therefore, any post COVID-19 tourism recovery strategy must focus on the poorest communities in rural Bali where poverty rates accelerated during the pandemic. Authorities in Bali and similar destinations should support more opportunities for the poor and offer investment, education, and appropriate training programmes to reduce poverty and develop sustainable communities.</p
