ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the changes that have taken place in pilgrimage tourism scholarship in recent decades. Pilgrimages have powerful political, economic, social and cultural implications, and even affect global trade and health. Over the years, debates surrounding the definition of tourism, pilgrimage, and other terms have expanded, with various researchers contributing knowledge regarding secular sites and secular aspects of pilgrimage research. The literature has also focused a great deal of attention on the visitor experience and the psychosocial dynamics that drive pilgrimage. New Age' spiritual travel also features a growing market for pilgrimage, personal growth, and non-traditional spiritual practices. Religious and secular pilgrims often share the trait of searching for a mystical or magical experience. During the first decade of the twenty-first century, mobility has become an evocative keyword and a well-known interdisciplinary field of study with a powerful discourse of its own.
