Tourism Accessibility and Its Impact on the Spiritual Sustainability of Sacred Sites

Abstract

Religious heritage sites are defined by their nature, both religious and non-religious (historical, social, cultural, etc.), as being pilgrimage destinations, as well as tourist attractions. The main aim of this paper is to determine whether there is a relationship between tourism accessibility and the concept of spiritual sustainability. Spiritual sustainability is presented in the paper by analyzing the concept of a sacred place and the connection it may have with tourism development. The authors have attempted to distinguish the elements determining the tourist and religious (spiritual) attractiveness of several pilgrimage sites as destinations for religious tourism, proposing a model for analyzing the connection between the two concepts studied. Two European regions have been compared—Pomerania (Poland) and Catalonia (Spain)—by analyzing 30 sacred sites (15 per region) using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. The results show that a lack of accessibility positively affects the spiritual sustainability of the sites. In other cases, the impact that accessibility can have depends on the management system.

Accessibility of World Heritage Site

“…On the other hand, the results of Aulet and Duda [2020], which examined the relationship between religious heritage sites and tourism from the perspective of spiritual sustainability, showed that the lack of accessibility positively affects the spiritual sustainability of the sites. It is also important to carefully consider the negative aspects that improving accessibility may have on the psychological state of local worshippers.…”

Unravelling the mechanisms linking cultural ecosystem services and human wellbeing

“…sacredness and the spiritual connections between the sites and people) for instrumental benefits (e.g. tourism revenue) 69 .…”

“…The environmental degradation associated with intensive tourism combined with the risks of changing livelihood structure may result in significant loss of local knowledge systems and skills 71 . In other cases, the inappropriate planning of tourism activities can hinder the educational value of historically, culturally, and ecologically important areas 69,72 .…”

Proposed framework for potential religious tourism destination in Cagayan Valley Region

“…It takes place in a particular geographical area that forms part of a widely known cultural landscape. The complexity of the elements of the destination, its space's existence dictates its diversity and shape, which is the result of changes in tourists' inspiration, behaviors, and wishes (Aulet & Duda, 2020). Religious tourism the accessibility of the place really matters to many tourists, the place where they could stay, the price and the popularity of the place and events as well (Giușcă et al, 2018).…”

“…The religious significance is associated with the religious values, time and events being set by the religious organization. In the context of religious tourism, facilities, tourist activities and services are essential (Aulet & Duda, 2020). As a result, many people seek religiously invigorating spiritual and cultural experiences in order to grow and be enlightened by what they discover at a location (Nicolaides, 2016).…”