Visiting a Cathedral: The Consumer Psychology of a ‘Rich Experience’

Voase, Richard

doi:10.1080/13527250601010851

Cited by 40 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Although non‐religious visitors may not necessarily accept the sanctity of the space they are visiting, if they want to gain access to the site, they will need to acknowledge implicit or stated behaviour and dress codes that the site's regular worshipping community will have in place as part of its religious value. Voase (2007, p. 50) also argues that by entering a building, which through its architecture and scale is conspicuously proclaiming a discourse‐of‐the‐Divine, visitors are forced to examine their own religious narratives and personal beliefs. Similarly, Francis et al (2008, p. 73) argue that cathedrals generate an atmosphere that ‘speaks to the hearts and souls of visitors’ and invites them to examine the relationship between self and the space around them.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In search of heterotopia? Motivations of visitors to an English cathedral

Gutic

Caie

Clegg

2010

Journal of Tourism Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

According to Shackley (2002, after Foucault, 1986, the motivation of most visitors to cathedral is the search for heterotopia, which is defined as a sense of timelessness and spirituality. Shackley goes on to argue that this search for heterotopia is a conscious, even if sometimes not articulated, attempt by visitors to connect to an unchanging and transcendental space that provides spiritual meaning in a life of transient and ephemeral values. Shackley (2002:350) proposes that visitors to cathedrals recognise them as sacred space and are influenced by them, even if they cannot articulate or recognise that effect. 2This paper explores the idea that many visitors to sacred sites and cathedrals in particular, are motivated to do so by a search of spirituality, but that this search is acting as a subconscious, unspoken motivation, which may be hidden by more rational motivations such as curiosity, a desire to learn, or an interest in history and architecture. This paper argues that although more than a third of visitors to Chichester Cathedral are motivated by a search for spirituality or heterotopia as described by Shackley (2002), their motivation is often not the result of a conscious decision, but instead appears to be the result of a subconscious motivation. This finding also suggests that a significant proportion of the tourists that, according to Sharpley and Sundaran (2005), would claim to be motivated by curiosity or a desire to learn when visiting sacred or pilgrimage sites (the 'Tourist trail followers' and the 'Practitioners'), may actually be subconsciously seeking some sense of spiritual experience or fulfilment. This proposition is based on a comparison between what visitors to Chichester Cathedral articulated as their primary motivation to visit the site, and those aspects that they found more satisfying from their visit, as well as the adjectives used to describe the Cathedral after their visit. This theory of subconscious motivation is developed from research on place meaning by Young (1999) and on consumer narratives of cathedral visitors by Voase (2007), and suggests that place meanings and personal narratives for cathedrals are socially constructed and attributed to the place according to the visitor's motivations. In this case, place meaning is acting as a mechanism to create intrinsic benefits that satisfy the visitor's motivational needs, with this process operating at an individual, subconscious level (Young, 1999;Pearce and Caltabiano, 1983). 3Thus, this paper concludes that a significant proportion of the non-religious visitors to cathedrals who argue that their motivations do not include the expectation of finding a sense of spirituality are justifying the benefits derived from visiting these sites by creating place meanings that have a spiritual dimension attached to it. This spiritual dimension arises from the subconscious acceptance of, and the associated behaviour connected to, the sanctity of space that visitors attach to the place.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In search of heterotopia? Motivations of visitors to an English cathedral

Gutic

Caie

Clegg

2010

Journal of Tourism Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Shackley (2002Shackley ( , 2005, who applied Foucault's (1986) heterotopia concept to English cathedrals, found that they offer tourists chances for exploring sacred space, which commercial considerations like entry fees should not contaminate. Voase (2007) explored the heritage attraction aspect of a cathedral using data from a focus group that suggests visitor experiences there were romantic and emotional. Francis and others (Francis 2009;Francis et al 2010) have reported on the use of Jungian inspired personality testing of visitors at several cathedrals in England and Wales which show variations in favour of a particular personality profile.…”

Section: Heterogeneous Religious Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Buddhist Temple and Its Users: The Case of Bulguksa in South Korea

Bendle

Lee

Choi

et al. 2014

Contemporary Buddhism

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Other studies (e.g. Smith and Weed, 2007;Voase, 2007) also note the importance of narratives in understanding personal experiences. The interviewees were asked to tell the researcher how they came to undertake their fi rst frontier travel experiences and were then asked about their reasons or motivations for doing so.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These past and present tales may also help to shape the personal narrative of the traveller, in the sense of 'sets of stories which unfold as life proceeds' (Voase, 2007, p. 49). The traveller makes reference to these narratives, consciously or subconsciously, in making sense of an experience or encounter (Voase, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Myth, adventure and fantasy at the frontier: metaphors and imagery behind an extraordinary travel experience

Laing

Crouch

2009

Journal of Tourism Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Travellers are now journeying to the frontiers of our world, including the poles, deserts, mountain peaks, the depths of the ocean and even outer space. These extraordinary travel experiences are often carried out in the 'footsteps' of explorers or adventurers, both past and present, and may be motivated or infl uenced by fantasy narratives and dreamscapes. This paper uses narrative analysis to examine some of the metaphors and imagery used by these individuals when describing these journeys, including mythic, imaginary and theatrical elements, and explores the common discourse of the adventure myth and the metempsychotic journey.

show abstract

Visiting a Cathedral: The Consumer Psychology of a ‘Rich Experience’

Cited by 40 publications

References 18 publications

In search of heterotopia? Motivations of visitors to an English cathedral

In search of heterotopia? Motivations of visitors to an English cathedral

A Buddhist Temple and Its Users: The Case of Bulguksa in South Korea

Myth, adventure and fantasy at the frontier: metaphors and imagery behind an extraordinary travel experience

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About