Faith Tourism

Faith tourism—also known as religious tourism, special-interest tourism, knowledge-based tourism, and heritage tourism—is a form of religious travel that is motivated principally but not exclusively by the spiritual or religious content and associated services of the destination. It thereby covers a wide variety of both secular and religious purposes, including recreation, leisure, interest, intellectual edification, healing, and spiritual experiences. Faith tourism does not apply to a journey that carries a religious purpose, act, or practice in itself and therefore lies in the somewhat vague area between secular tourism and pilgrimage. The destination nevertheless must contain some sort of spiritual value for the visitor and can usually be broken down into five categories: (1) natural locales (sacred places, e.g., the Sea of Galilee), (2) religious buildings ...