ABSTRACT

The Routledge Handbook of Religious and Spiritual Tourism provides a robust and comprehensive state-of-the-art review of the literature in this growing sub-field of tourism.

This handbook is split into five distinct sections. The first section covers past and present debates regarding definitions, theories, and concepts related to religious and spiritual tourism. Subsequent sections focus on the supply and demand aspects of religious and spiritual tourism markets, and examine issues related to the management side of these markets around the world. Areas under examination include religious theme parks, the UNESCO branding of religious heritage, gender and performance, popular culture, pilgrimage, environmental impacts, and fear and terrorism, among many others. The final section explores emerging and future directions in religious and spiritual tourism, and proposes an agenda for further research.

Interdisciplinary in coverage and international in scope through its authorship and content, this will be essential reading for all students, researchers, and academics interested in Tourism, Religion, Cultural Studies, and Heritage Studies.

part Section I|118 pages

Definitions, theories, and concepts

chapter 2|19 pages

Pilgrimages, journeys, and outings

The historical mobilities of religious praxis

chapter 6|11 pages

A new spiritual marketplace

Comparing new age and new religious movements in an age of spiritual and religious tourism

chapter 8|9 pages

Secular pilgrimages in a post-secular world?

Experiential journeys and hope for the future

part Section II|89 pages

Spaces and places

chapter 10|17 pages

Environment as a sacred space

Religious and spiritual tourism and environmental concerns in Hinduism

chapter 11|14 pages

Tourism and spirituality

Green places, blue spaces, and beyond

chapter 13|12 pages

Religious theme parks

chapter 14|13 pages

Religious and spiritual retreats

part Section III|76 pages

Motivations, experiences, and performance

chapter 17|11 pages

Volunteer tourism

A spiritual and religious journey of meaning, transcendence, and connectedness

chapter 19|10 pages

Gender and performance in the context of religious and spiritual tourism

Pilgrimage and sacred mobilities

chapter 21|11 pages

Aftermath

Calculating the effects of pilgrimage

part Section IV|159 pages

Managing religious and spiritual tourism

chapter 29|13 pages

Coexistence between tourists and monks

Managing temple-stay tourism at Koyasan, Japan

chapter 30|17 pages

Food and religion

Tourism perspectives

chapter 32|19 pages

Religious and spiritual tourism

Sustainable development perspectives

part Section V|17 pages

Emerging and future directions

chapter 33|15 pages

Religion, spirituality, and tourism

Emerging and future directions