The popularity of religious tourism Essay

Emily Pichardo
HRT 415
Dr. Neha Singh
18 July 2016
Religious Tourism
Religious tourism is one of the earliest and largest forms of tourism history shows that many have traveled to spiritual and holy destinations for the sole purpose of religious motives. Today, religious travel has grown and now includes a much larger market with travels that range from being volunteer-oriented in order to help others, for missionary purposes, leisure, or any other reason related to religion or spirituality. One common mistake that many have made is assuming that these travelers affiliate with the specific religion of the site that they are visiting, which is not always the case. While many do travel for a spiritual experience based on their religion, there are also others who are simply curious or interested in viewing things from historical or cultural perspective.
There are a variety of forms behind religious travel with some individuals traveling alone, some with family and friends, or others in groups. One form of religious tourism is Pilgrimage, which is the act of traveling from place to place with a group of people, often to foreign lands, and with religious purposes. Many have explained it to be a personal transformation and travel of self-discovery. Over the years, it has grown and become widespread where it has been estimated that a number of 240 million travelers go on pilgrimages every year with a majority of them being Muslim, Hindus, and Christians, according to Tourism, Religion, and Spiritual Journey by Somnuck Jongmeewasin. An article published by The Huffington Post further explains that, "pilgrimage is not a vacation, but a transformational journey during which significant change takes place new insights are given, deeper understanding is attained, new and old places in the heart are visited, blessings are received, healing takes place, and on return from the pilgrimage, life is seen with different eyes and nothing will ever be quite the same again." With that being said, many have argued that pilgrimage and tourism are not the same and there are specific factors or motivators that distinguish their differences. According to Spiritual Religion and Spirituality in Contemporary Travel by Alex Norman, "One of the key distinguishing factors of pilgrimage is that it is formed out of the desire for some form of change and the belief that this can be found at the pilgrimage." Tourism, on the other hand, has a different purpose where it is often explained as "sightseeing". As tourism continues to expand, the idea of religious tourism will continue to evolve, and the discussion on whether pilgrimage is considered religious tourism is still up for debate.
The popularity of religious tourism has grown, and can be divided into ten historic religions Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, western esoteria, the modern religions, Sikhism, Taoism, and Neopaganism according to Katri Nieminen. All of which attract tourists from all over the world to visit. There are many holy destinations, but some are much more popular than others based on historical events or cultural value.