Tourism and Religion: Issues and Implications

Nguyen, Phuong Nam

doi:10.1108/jtf-09-2018-074

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The religious itinerary-the pilgrimage-has always represented a fundamental part of the manifestation of faith in Sicily. The tourist/pilgrim is the main stakeholder of a pilgrimage route, he/she is a particular visitor who is driven by faith or curiosity to know sacred places belonging to different religions and undertakes this type of walk along which he or she has also the possibility to carry out other desired activities [77]. Among the "European Cultural Itineraries" (1985), the Magna Via Francigena passes along Sicilian rural territories that today face problems of depopulation as a result of the economic crisis, population decline, and abandonment of the countryside [7,8], but it is a territory of great importance for the production of high quality food and wines with quality certifications.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is combined of different elements that all together constitute the final tourist offer to pilgrims. These elements are, first of all, faith and religion, followed by nature, food and wine, history, and art and culture [20,22,23,77]. Rural villages still constitute a special social and economic experimentation that is oriented toward offers of seasonal residence as an alternative to city life (a key determinant for sustainable tourism) and that supports quality agricultural production (bio-agriculture) [79].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Food and Religion in Sicily—A New Green Tourist Destination by an Ancient Route from the Past

2021

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The Francigena Way (Via Francigena) is a long international itinerary that was awarded recognition as a Culture Route of the Council of Europe. It starts in Canterbury (UK), touches 13 European regions and ends in Rome. An ancient track of this route is in Sicily (Southern Italy), and its name is Magna Via Francigena (Great Francigena Way). This track is a pilgrimage route that connects two ancient port cities, Palermo and Agrigento, passing through internal rural territories that now deal with the exodus of population from rural to urban areas. The route passes through the Sicilian territory named “Upper-Belìce corleonese”, a rural area around the city of Corleone (a little village known worldwide for the sad Mafia events) that includes a number of municipalities. In the past, this religious pilgrimage was a fundamental part of the expression of faith for Christians and now still represents for Sicilians a strong symbol of Christian identity. In recent decades, pilgrimage tourism around the world has grown significantly each year. The aim of the study is to know the pilgrims’ motivations for choosing the Magna Via Francigena pilgrimage as a vacation and any possible similarities between pilgrimage tourism and food and wine tourism, in the wider context of sustainable and slow tourism. The Policy Delphi method was applied to collect the opinions of the stakeholders involved. The study highlighted the strong link between religious motivations and local enogastronomy, culture, art and nature. Results will support policy-making in the development of integrated territorial tourist marketing strategies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food and Religion in Sicily—A New Green Tourist Destination by an Ancient Route from the Past

2021

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Local stakeholders’ perspectives on religious heritage and tourism development in Varanasi

Shyju

Bhat²,

Myers

et al. 2020

IJTC

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the perspectives of local stakeholders on the role of religious tourism and the development process that alter the sacred space and religious heritage of Varanasi. Specific objectives include study local stakeholders' view on the motivation of visitors, the image of the city they carry home, role of infrastructure development altering sacredness of the city, major issues pertaining to conservation of the city's religious heritage and whether tourism dominates the sacred space of the city. Design/methodology/approach The present study follows the philosophical approach of constructionism and is an inductive study based on the ontological features of realism. The study is conducted using qualitative research design. Participants were purposely selected from different groups to provide representative data. through in-depth interviews with a set of 22 open-ended questions. Findings The study acknowledged the spatial changes happening in an old city over time. The portrayed image of Varanasi remains deeply rooted in the minds of pilgrims, whereas the tourist perspective often goes beyond the texts as an experience. The reflection of local stakeholders in the transformation of sacred space to tourist experiencescape as a consumable experience, which is influenced by market-driven forces is a major finding of the study. Research limitations/implications Difficulties in finalising the respondents and building up the theoretical base, which is one of the main limitations of the study. During the process of data collection, the respondents mainly focussed upon the impacts of tourism on Varanasi, and the researchers made every effort to extract qualitative information on the current research. At times, some respondents hesitated to share their view on political influences in the development process, which restricted the authors to obtain righteous information, that could have contributed a better understanding of the deep-rooted issues of religious heritage conservation. Another limitation is that the perspectives of visitors have not been included in this research. Practical implications The study will contribute to the theoretical areas of tourism development in historic and sacred cities. As an interdisciplinary area, the selected theme of the study delves in to landscape planning, heritage preservation, tourism development in historic cities and more importantly how residents understand the changes happening in a scared environment. The present research opens opportunities for further researches such as social pressures and tourism development, urban morphology and its transformation in ancient cities and so on. Social implications Varanasi is an ancient city in India, which is also the heartland of Hinduism. The study reveals the understanding of respondents on religious traditions, sentiments and the social values attached to a place. At the same time, it also highlights the role of tourism in generating an intercultural dialogue with local cultures, appreciating the sacred value of sites associated with religious sentiments. Originality/value The study addresses the role of tourism in altering the landscape of ancient city of Varanasi. The original view of respondents has been used in the article to maintain originality. There are several researches conducted on Varanasi, but the present study is conducted in a systematic way to gather the real understanding of local people. The study acknowledges the changes happening in the city along the course of time.

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Tourism and Religion: Issues and Implications

Cited by 2 publications

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Food and Religion in Sicily—A New Green Tourist Destination by an Ancient Route from the Past

Food and Religion in Sicily—A New Green Tourist Destination by an Ancient Route from the Past

Local stakeholders’ perspectives on religious heritage and tourism development in Varanasi

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