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This paper aims to analyse the development of the pilgrimage phenomenon over the past few decades. Pilgrimage was the first tourism mobility to come into existence thousands of years ago. In recent decades, its significance has decreased, as other tourism segments have gained prominence. Although modern tourism is regarded as a relatively new phenomenon, its origins are clearly rooted in the age-old practice of pilgrimage. Indeed, the development of tourism is difficult to understand without a thorough comprehension of the practice of pilgrimage in ancient times.

This paper analyses the development of the pilgrimage phenomenon over the past few decades. The phenomenon of Pilgrimage Tourism and the nexus between the two mobilities has been experiencing tremendous changes over the past few decades and is still in the midst of an on-going process of transformation.

This paper concludes with the prediction that pilgrimage will re-emerge when the many similar segments – particularly, spiritual tourism, heritage tourism, religious tourism, dark tourism and secular pilgrimage – are re-identified as pilgrimage: a mobility for the search for meaning that contains an element of transformation that is often deep and enduring (as they were viewed at the dawn of humanity and for thousands of years).

This review has examined the development of pilgrimage tourism as a research topic, highlighting the importance of re-examining our contemporary usage of terms in order to allow for broader interpretations of different phenomena in the field of tourism. These conclusions are consistent with the current calls for a fundamental rethinking of the paradigms and the norms shaping scholarship on pilgrimage, dark tourism and tourism as a whole from a post-disciplinary perspective based on synthesis and synergy.

This paper aims to enrich discussion on pilgrimage tourism by analyzing motivations for visiting Sissinghurst, and of essential components of the pilgrimage experience.

The paper utilizes data triangulation and the application of two powerful Jungian archetypes to decode motivations to manage and to participate in a journey to an iconic pilgrimage site (Sigginghurst Castle Garden, in Kent, England and administered by the National Trust) using the analysis of interview-based, published, broadcast media and internet blog storytelling.

Pilgrim tourists seek and achieve individuation by being part of the essential experience of a site; with its founders, its owners and management and with its continuing re-birth story.

The paper illustrates the application of Jungian archetypes to identify motivations to engage in a tourism experience and as a means for managers to identify a destination's essential characteristics.

This work provides a means for managers to identify a destination's essential characteristics.

The paper documents an original research approach to a previously under-researched research topic.

The chapter presents the gospel festival as a significant postmodern religious tourism phenomenon which has not thus far been recognized or critically theorized. To date, conceptualizations of religious tourism, specifically pilgrimages, have been dominated by Turnerian concepts of liminality and communitas. It is suggested that these concepts, while valuable, do not sufficiently account for the heterogeneous and contested nature of these event spaces or their potentiality for the performance of alternative modes of social ordering. The Foucauldian notion of heterotopia is adapted as a more apposite theoretical framework and an example of a gospel festival in Australia is drawn on by way of explication.

War is one of the worst characteristics of human nature. Wars over territory, religion, and governance were and are always present through history. War and tourism seem dissonant at first glance. However, the post effects of war enable its components, such as battlefields and artefacts, to become tourist attractions. People share the impetus to visit war attractions such as battlefields, military museums, cemeteries, memorials, and other war-related sites. There is a supply for this type of tourism in exchange for the demand. This type of tourism is referred to in the literature as battlefield tourism. The meaning and definition of battlefield tourism are the main aim of this chapter. What is battlefield tourism? What are the components of battlefield tourism? How can battlefield tourism be defined? These are the primary questions this study tries to address.

This study aims to highlight the theoretical foundations and future research directions in religious tourism and related topics from 2003 to 2023.

A total of 4,143 documents from Web of Science and Scopus databases related to religious tourism and pilgrimage were analysed using VOSviewer software.

The analysis illuminates a steady rise in religious tourism research. The most influential countries are the USA, the UK and Israel. Gendered studies, tourists’ perceptions and technology in religious tourism will be research hotspots, as predicted with keyword co-occurrence analysis.

This study thoroughly evaluates two decades of religious tourism literature through bibliometric and network analysis. It can help researchers comprehend religious tourism study more thoroughly and determine where to focus in future research.

本研究强调了 2003–2023 年宗教旅游及相关主题的理论基础和未来研究方向。

使用 VOSviewer 软件分析了来自 Web of Science 和 Scopus 数据库的与宗教旅游和朝圣相关的总共 4143 份文件。

分析表明宗教旅游研究稳步上升。 最具影响力的国家是美国、英国和以色列。 正如关键词共现分析预测的那样, 宗教旅游中的性别研究、游客感知和宗教旅游技术将成为研究热点。

本研究通过文献计量和网络分析彻底评估了二十年的宗教旅游文献。 它可以帮助研究人员更透彻地理解宗教旅游研究, 并确定未来研究的重点。

Este estudio destaca los fundamentos teóricos y las futuras direcciones de investigación en turismo religioso y temas relacionados entre 2003 y 2023.

Se analizó un total de 4143 documentos de las bases de datos Web of Science y Scopus relacionados con el turismo religioso y la peregrinación utilizando el software VOSviewer.

El análisis ilumina un aumento constante en la investigación del turismo religioso. Los países más influyentes son Estados Unidos, Reino Unido e Israel. Los estudios de género, la percepción de los turistas y la tecnología en el turismo religioso en el turismo religioso serán puntos críticos de investigación como se predice con el análisis de co-ocurrencia de palabras clave.

Este estudio evalúa minuciosamente dos décadas de literatura sobre turismo religioso a través de análisis bibliométrico y de redes. Puede ayudar a los investigadores a comprender el estudio del turismo religioso más a fondo y determinar dónde enfocarse en futuras investigaciones.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a typology of dark tourists through an investigation of people's motivations to visit burial grounds. This research extends Stone's Dark Tourism Spectrum and Seven Dark Suppliers framework by identifying nine types of dark tourists.

A comparative case study approach was selected where 23 interviews were conducted at three burial grounds. Interview transcripts were analysed in order to identify emerging themes in motives and experiences of dark tourism consumers. The sites selected were Bunhill Fields Burial Ground, London, St Mary's Graveyard, Whitby, and Weaste Cemetery, Salford.

From this research a Dark Tourist Spectrum has been formulated which presents a typology of the dark tourist. The spectrum identifies different categories of visitors identified at the burial grounds, ranging from “darkest” to “lightest” tourists.

Limitations of the research regard time and resource constraints. This affected the sample size of participants for interview and the selection of sites as case studies.

This study begins to fill the gap in research on people's motivations to visit sites that lie within the mid‐shades of Stone's Dark Tourism Spectrum, specifically burial grounds. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of dark tourism consumption with a new model presented in the form of a Dark Tourist Spectrum.

The purpose of the current study, besides describing the Khaled Nabi shrine and the reasons and motivations behind the visits to the shrine, is to elaborate its importance and meaning for the Turkmen community with regard to cultural identity in modern Iran. In addition, the possibilities of the classification of the visitors at the shrine, according to the tourist-pilgrim model will be also considered.

Because of the complexity of the tourism issues, for the collection of data for this research, the author has relied on both qualitative and qualitative methods, notably general observation, participant observation and in-depth interviews with key persons at the shrine. Furthermore, to get some insight in the general opinion, a total of 180 questionnaires that contained open- and close-ended questions have been distributed among Turkmen and non-Turkmen pilgrims/visitors in the age group of 18-80 years, of which 100 were completed. Therefore, observations were made for a whole week’s cycle to record variations during the same season.

Results of the study indicate that, because of the character of Khaled Nabi shrine, visitors with varieties of motivations like religious, semi-religious and secular, do visit Khaled Nabi and the shrine takes on a variety of functions for its visitors. The research specifies that drawing an exact line between the visitors proved to be improper. Therefore, to classify the visitors, the tourist-pilgrim continuum, being the most proper model, was applied. Accordingly, six categories of religious pilgrims, spiritual pilgrims/tourists, ecotourists, ethnic tourists, Turkmen cultural/historical tourists and non-Turkmen cultural/historical tourists have been created.

In regard to the research many problems also appeared. Perhaps the most difficult part was overcoming all sorts of practical and bureaucratic hurdles of doing research in Iran which can be quite challenging at times. It is even harder when the research is on ethnic or religious minorities, which is deemed – without exception – by the Iranian authorities “sensitive”. Consequently, for example, in practice, to not attract undesirable attention of the officials, the author, instead of putting direct questions, did it through participant observation or informal chats with the visitors.

Despite the huge amount of publications related to pilgrimage and tourism, there is still a gap between abstract theory and empirical research. Tending to be general in nature, the studies dedicated to specific geographical regions with their own unique history and environment are rather few. This lack of tourism studies is even greater when the study is related to zeyarat (religious motivated in the Islamic contexts) which, despite its importance and wide extended practice, has been mostly ignored in tourism and geographic literature. The present study features one such area that is (almost) unknown within the community of tourism and geography researchers.

Religious and secular pilgrimages present rich opportunities for investigating information activities in an original and intriguing context. While the Information Science community has previously shown interest in digital expressions of religion and spirituality, discussion on pilgrimage is at a nascent stage. The purpose of this study is to conduct an in situ investigation of how pilgrims record, curate, and share their experiences.

A field ethnography was conducted while walking with, observing and interviewing pilgrims along the Camino de Santiago, a popular European pilgrimage and UNESCO World Heritage route. Data collected from 25 semi-structured interviews and participant observations were thematically analysed within a theoretical framework combining Stebbins' contemplation and Nature Challenge Activity in serious leisure and Hektor's model of information behaviour.

This study expands the interpretation of pilgrimage by introducing new insights into pilgrims, different types of mobilities, spaces and objects, and social interactions. By using field ethnography and close-up observations of praxis, pilgrimage is analysed as a socio-technical process and discussed literature within and beyond Information Science. The work presents new understandings of the interplay between spirituality, embodied information practices, physical and online social interactions, analogue and digital media before, during and after these journeys and legacy aspirations.

The study is original in its combination of theoretical models and their ethnographic in situ application. It contributes to a more in-depth, in-the-field understanding of how pilgrims document their experiences via a rich palette of old and new media, the dynamics of using digital technologies during such physical and inner journeys and pilgrims' sharing practices. Implications for serious leisure and information practices are discussed, from theoretical to practical challenges and opportunities offered by pilgrimage experiences.

Pilgrimage is a special form of conscious travel – maybe even the most conscious one – and therefore, awareness is one part thereof. As a result of this quality, which is gaining importance in Western society, pilgrimage is currently experiencing a renaissance (but not just for religious or spiritual reasons). No other pilgrimage route can be compared to the Camino to Santiago de Compostela in terms of numbers of pilgrims, popularity and fascination, and with around half a million pilgrims, the city broke its record again in 2022. The focus of this essay is the following question: is there a ‘Destination Conscience’ in relation to the Camino, and if so, who creates and uses it, and does it change over time? In terms of methodology, existing scientific studies are re-analysed and the results of field studies by RWTH Aachen University evaluated, in order to examine the contributions made by various stakeholders (travellers, local population, tourism providers, institutions, etc.) to the development of a possible ‘Destination Conscience’ pilgrimage. Through personal interactions and cultural exchange, they develop common values and a common awareness. On the other hand, these different expectations and changing perspectives also lead to conflicts and misunderstandings. The example of the Camino shows that ‘Destination Conscience’ is not a state but a process, and change is an essential part of this quality.

This chapter focuses on tourism from Australia to Gallipoli to attend Anzac Day commemorations. The research examines diary excerpts of tourists to Gallipoli using theory on emotions to gain insights into the consumption experience. We describe this tourist experience as a pilgrimage, as it is purposeful and is aimed at reaching a specific destination that has spiritual meaning for the consumer. We found that this tourist experience elicits both positively and negatively valanced emotions. The findings highlight that not all tourism experiences elicit hedonically related emotions; however, the outcome of the experience can be positive. Further research on emotions that explores this paradox between emotions in consumption and emotions in post-consumption will assist to understand the ways in which consumers process their emotions within this context.