Religious Tourism in Africa's Global South

International tourist arrivals are projected to surpass 1.8 billion by 2030 on the back of rapid growth in emerging tourism economies. Tourism has emerged as an economic messiah for a plethora of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. It has emerged as a cost-effective means by which countries can diversify their economies, especially countries with low economies that depend on agricultural products to diversify their economies. Religious tourism can contribute to deeper economic benefit for a destination. The synthesis of literature adds to the paucity of academic gaze on religious tourism in Southern Africa. The synthesis takes the reader on a religious tourism journey that includes African spirituality, Pentecostal Christianity, and the interface between Africans spirituality and Christianity. These areas are neglected in the academic gaze and are outside the tourism beaten track, and these forms of religious tourism bring in much needed economic activities for areas on the tourism fringe.

Religious Tourism

The present study has as its general objective to analyze the differences in behavior and culture among religious tourists who visit sacred sites. The study is descriptive through research. The quantitative instrument was adapted of Irimiás and Michalkó and Irimiás, Mitev, and Michalko. The results show a heterogeneous sample that includes different age groups. Among the data it appears that the majority of respondents are female and have higher education. A large percentage were born in a religious cradle and thus are considered religious. In addition, a high number of religious tourism participants are part of a religious community. Thus, it is suggested for future research to expand the analyzed countries in order to compare results, with the aim of analyzing other contents different from those analyzed. Among other limitations of this study we have: the information presented is limited to the articles selected only with Brazilian and Portuguese tourists; the research was carried out with the snowball technique, being limited only to the sample for convenience.

Media and Religious Tourism

This chapter aims at presenting a thematic analysis of 64 research articles on religious tourism published from 2009 to 2020 by adopting a systematic literature review method. The results indicate that prominent topics discussed were amplification of concepts, tourist motivations, and experience. The evolution of religious tourism concept through nexus of diverse scholarly terms, related domains, and religious practices needs a comprehensive literary debate to refine the subject. The socio-economic impact of religious tourism also calls for the enrichment of topics on scholarly and practical grounds. Issues such as host and tourist behavior, social interaction, visitor management, marketing components, and the role of media need to be explored for the progression of religious tourism in line with sustainability. The chapter contributes to the literature by proposing a three-dimensional model focusing on the role of media and potential research domains for further exploration.

The Opportunities for the Development of Religious Tourism in Georgia

In recent years, tourism in Georgia has been a priority area for the economy, and accordingly, special attention is paid to its elaboration, since it has a great impact on the stable development of society, improving the economic situation and meeting the spiritual needs. The research is devoted to a very relevant and at the same time specific type of tourism, religious tourism, pilgrimage, traveling due to religious beliefs. Georgia has very good potentials for the development of religious tourism, as it has numerous Sanctuaries, such as the robe of Christ, the cross of St. Nino, more than 12,000 churches and monasteries, and the cathedral, about 150 museums. In addition, to the Orthodox, the representatives of other religions can also visit their religious places, for instance Muslims can pray in the mosques, Jews in the synagogue, and Catholics in Old Catholic temples.

Challenges of Religious Tourism in the Conflict Region

Pilgrimage has historically and traditionally been considered a physical journey, in order for one to know the truth and visit a place that has sacred and holy meaning. In the modern world, with the development of technology and the process of globalization, territorial boundaries are slowly shrinking, making traveling much easier, and hence, with traditional tourism, of course, religious tourism has also progressed. In the research, the authors consider the challenges that religious tourism has in the modern world, especially the case of Jerusalem. They mainly focus on two variables, legal status of Jerusalem and political instability as problems, which are associated with the development of tourism in a conflict environment. They hypothesis is that unlike conventional tourism, religious tourism has a much greater chance of overcoming various challenges and developing in a conflict-prone and volatile environment.

Use of Social Media by Tourists at Religious Tourism Destinations in India

The chapter assesses the social media usage by tourists during their visit to religious tourism destinations and evaluates rationale and challenges faced by religious tourism establishments and other stakeholders in using social media as tools for marketing of religious tourism. The study used secondary data sources for getting a theoretical understanding of social media and religious tourism. Primary data conveniently collected through field survey from tourists and tourism establishment at religious tourism destination to know the extent of social media usage. The chapter indicating increased use of social media by tourists in searching, planning, booking, and sharing experiences about different products and services. The study identifies a crucial role of social media in the marketing and development of religious tourism along with certain challenges related to using as a mechanism to promote destination. Finally, implication and recommendations for different stakeholders were given to ensure adequate presence on social in more effective manner.

Mystical Tibet Today

Tourism is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. Currently, it provides 10% of the world's income and employs one-tenth of the total workforce. World Tourism Organisation (WTO) estimates that by 2020 1.6 billion people will travel around the globe and an estimated income of $1.5 billion will be generated from these activities. With all these financial outcomes, tourism can provide great opportunities for the local economies. The sacred geography of the Tibetan region and the sacred Mount Kailas combines the origins of the world's four religions. For several centuries Tibet was closed to foreign visitors and tourists. This is explained not only by the complex geographical location. Tibet's isolation was largely driven by both Tibetan rulers and Chinese policy.

Promoting Religious Tourism Management for Creating a Soft Image of Pakistan

The religious tourism management has been the subject of much attention in academic literature and has made a significant contribution in creating soft image in tourists' behavior. Pakistan has one of the best archaeological and religious historical sites in the world. Buddhist civilization at Taxila, Islamabad, Swat, and Takht Bai are of great interest for tourists from Japan, Korea, Thailand, and other countries. The aim of this chapter is to determine the promotion of religious tourism management for creating soft image in Pakistan. In this regard, initiatives of religious tourism by federal government are analyzed while incorporating input from easing immigration services, establishment of national tourism coordination board, infrastructure development, and pollution free environment, which leads to the soft image. An exploration of the nature of soft image requires examining the two key drivers: cognitive approach and the more recent cognitive-affective approach. Using quantitative method, various analysis techniques will be applied.

The Role of Religion and Culture in Modern Day Society

In modern day culture, religion is specifically a business, rather than a faith. After European renaissance, religion is seen as derivative of changes between effect and resistance which had forced social scientists to think about religion from different perspectives. Then with some formal mixtures of capitalism and religion, religion became a component of business, rather than just a belief. From an individual perspective to social, political, economic perspectives, it's true. Even from individual to national and international perspectives, religion is just a business concept in the geo-politics at the international, super-national, and even supra-national arena. Nothing has changed the religions; rather international geo-politics has transformed religions into their own interests sometimes as an evil and sometimes as a “divine angel,” which can benefit their interests.

Religious and Spiritual Tourism

Over the years there has been an increase in competition among tourism destinations, leading to the need for a deeper understanding about the tourism realm, impact, and management. Tourism has expanded its scope, reflecting an increasing recognition in the academic community paralleled by the application of interdisciplinary concepts and methods. Indeed, research in tourism has been studying its various implications from a multitude of perspectives and with interdisciplinary insights. Areas in tourism research entail planning of tourism destinations, local development, environmental impact, territorial brand management, and tourist loyalty. With new motivations, new niches are created, and it is one of those niches that the authors address in this work, namely, spiritual tourism. Spiritual tourism derives from religious tourism because it is linked to spiritualism and is associated with wellness tourism. This manuscript aims to present the importance of spirituality in the context of tourism (Alentejo, Portugal). In the end, new lines of research will be presented for the future.