ABSTRACT

The phenomenon of religious tourism dates to antiquity, and is arguably as old as tourism itself, especially given the difficulty of disentangling the sacred and secular within the motives, destinations, experiences and narratives of tourists’ journeys. Some modern Pagans journey from one side of the globe to the other to visit sacred sites, while others drive or walk to sites near their homes. Malta has a long history of colonization, and from the Bronze Age onwards, the temples were appropriated and contested, reinterpreted and reused by a host of foreign and local groups for a variety of economic, cultural, historical, scientific and religious purposes. It is difficult to generalize about Maltese people’s relationships to the Neolithic past and the temples. Local villagers and communities, farmers and hunters who live or carry out their activities near temples are likely to have different attitudes and concerns from urban-dwellers.