COVID-19: Impacts and perspectives for religious tourism events. The case of Lourdes Pilgrimages

Abstract

The breakout of COVID-19 has massively impacted the event industry. Focusing on Lourdes Pilgrimages, the results of the study reveal that the online delivery of the event, has not negatively impacted on the traditional dimension of the pilgrimage; nor on the satisfaction of attendees. Instead, it has potentially offered some opportunities to the Sanctuary, and surrounding areas. As a result, crisis either internal or external to an industry should not be perceived only as negative. A Janusian thinking approach is required to perceive the opportunities related to crisis, and an ambidextrous management approach needed to exploit them.

COVID-19 and the digitization of business events: how the health crisis accelerated ethical issues

“…The virtualization of events has drastically increased during the pandemic (e.g. Hahm et al ., 2022; McCloskey et al ., 2020; Séraphin and Jarraud, 2022; Faridani, 2021), affecting managers (Dillette and Ponting, 2021), participants (e.g. performers) (Hahm et al ., 2022) and attendees (Faridani, 2021).…”

“…Although these contributions have been extremely valuable to shed light on a complex phenomenon in its contingency, the literature (e.g. Davies, 2021; Séraphin and Jarraud, 2022) points out the need for further investigations on the future (post COVID-19) of the event industry, here in an attempt to foreshadow the development trajectories of the business and identify the key success factors in this transformed competitive scenario.…”

“…Although these contributions have been extremely valuable to shed light on a complex phenomenon in its contingency, the literature (e.g. Davies, 2021;S eraphin and Jarraud, 2022) points out the need for further investigations on the future (post COVID-19) of the event industry, here in an attempt to foreshadow the development trajectories of the business and identify the key success factors in this transformed competitive scenario. Thus, to achieve an overall depiction of the effects that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the business event industry and identify possibly valuable insights for its future advancement, the present research provides an investigation of 26 Italian event agencies (EAs) managers based on semi-structured in-depth interviews.…”

Experiencing Event Management During the Coronavirus Pandemic: A Public Sector Perspective

“…In notable but disparate exceptions, Maditinos et al ( 2021 ) have explored runners' plans for which events to race in 2021. Adopting perspectives from organisational management, Séraphin and Jarraud ( 2021 ) have observed that, through ambidexterity, opportunities have been perceived and realised from the Lourdes pilgrimage despite the unpredictable context. Rowen's ( 2020 ) account of the Burning Man festival is unique for having considered transformation in the context of events.…”

Pilgrimage and Religious Tourism in Society, in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Paradigmatic Focus on ‘St. Paul’s Route’ in the Central Macedonia Region, Greece

“…History shows that pandemics (as well as wars and other hazards) do not eliminate long-term practices of pilgrimage (Foster 2010;Kužić 2014). Various religious communities have found their own ways to adapt and continue their pilgrimages, by using 'mini', localized, or new pilgrimages (Bailey 2022), by becoming more accustomed to technological methods of participation (Séraphin and Jarraud 2021;Faris and Griffin 2020), or by waiting for the end of the pandemic.…”