ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the marketing of religious and spiritual tourism experiences and may be useful for tourism service providers, destination managers, religious groups, and government agencies. It considers religion and spirituality to be similar concepts with respect to tourism marketing strategies, and although the author is aware of conceptual and practical differences. The chapter evaluates various strategic options for marketing religious and spiritual tourism, ranging from a conventional marketing mix approach to a pragmatic relationship marketing strategy. Walls et al. contributed to understanding experiential tourism from four perspectives: ordinary to extraordinary, cognitive to emotive experiences, physical experience and human interactions, and individual characteristics and situational factors. The literature identifies three strategic approaches to tourism marketing: consumer-oriented, competitor-oriented, and trade-oriented. The product consists of the destination assets accessible to tourists, including their features and benefits.
