The evolution of religious tourism: Concept, segmentation and development of new identities

The current paper aims to analyse the evolution of religious tourism and how the existing concepts, paradigms, and practices related to religious tourism have evolved and changed over time. The principal research methods used in this paper are: historical analysis, comparison, scoping, synthesising,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of hospitality and tourism management Vol. 45; pp. 131 - 140
Main Author Iliev, Dejan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2020
Subjects
Concept
Mainstream industry
Niche
Religious tourism
Segmentation
Concept
Mainstream industry
Niche
Segmentation
Religious tourism
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Summary:The current paper aims to analyse the evolution of religious tourism and how the existing concepts, paradigms, and practices related to religious tourism have evolved and changed over time. The principal research methods used in this paper are: historical analysis, comparison, scoping, synthesising, and identifying research gaps. The paper reveals that the concept of religious tourism is gradually transforming and upgrading over the years, as well as it is going through a phase of segmentation, creation of new market niches, and developing new identities. The intensive growth of religious tourism in the global market, its complex structure, and its dynamic qualitative and quantitative changes require a postmodern and multidisciplinary approach and in-depth analysis of this type of tourism, whose previous development has been characterised by partial overlapping between elements of alternative and mass tourism. The current paper reinforces the theory of religious tourism.
ISSN:1447-6770
1447-6770
DOI:10.1016/j.jhtm.2020.07.012