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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.

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 brings humans and other-than-humans together through a dual process – movement across space and the transformation of space through the process of sacralisation. This paper aims to explore this dual process by outlining the development of qualitative research on contemporary pilgrimage where the dominant representational approach which focuses on human agency has been complemented by a relational perspective where statues, springs and rocks, for example, are seen as possessing their own agency that influences human action.

This paper describes the development of qualitative research on contemporary pilgrimage by bringing together both the representational and relational approach and drawing on the author’s experience of pilgrimage over many years and his reflections on that experience as a trained qualitative researcher.

This paper explores the ways in which the dominant representational approach in pilgrimage studies can be complemented by the relational approach by drawing on the author’s experience of pilgrimage in three different contexts

The paper is original by bringing together both the representational and relational perspectives, contextualising them through the author’s experience of different types of pilgrimage and linking pilgrimage to the wider issues of migration, space and agency.

To date, a few studies have examined the use and circulation of votive materiality in religious pilgrimages. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study has explored the ritual reuse of votive materiality within pilgrimages. This paper aims to explore the (re)uses and circulations of votive materiality in the ritual process.

In the analysis, the authors adopt the cross-views of an anthropologist and a marketing researcher. Votive practices are examined through the anthropologist’s past ethnographies. Audiovisual data play a central role in this analysis. Moreover, the authors choose a comparative perspective by focusing on two not famed pilgrimage arenas, each mobilising Muslim pilgrims and food offerings.

Revisiting the thoughts of Weber (1978) on the religious field and those of Kotler (2019) on transformational experiences, the authors propose a graphic schematisation to trace the circulations of votive materiality (sugar) involving four interdependent ideal-typical actors: the merchant, the priest, the mystical operator and the pilgrim-consumer who, in her/his quest for the divine, is the target for the first three. Either pilgrims or mystical operators can ritually reuse votive materiality. However, such reuses are not performed for ecological purposes, but for practical reasons, mainly due to an overabundance of votive materiality.

It is often believed that a votive object is only for single use, used only once, for a single request or thanksgiving, by a single person. But the authors show that once used, certain votive objects – as vehicles for grace – can be reused, revealing an unexpected ritual reuse.

Rapid urbanization and development of pilgrimage cities cause significant problems for the environment and society, leading to long-term challenges. Despite several discussions on city sustainability, the literature does not address some of the specific problems of pilgrimage cities. Hence, this study attempts at developing a method to examine the growth pattern and sustainability of pilgrimage cities in southern part of India.

The benchmarking method and the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability are considered to construct the Pilgrimage City Sustainability Index (PCSI). Appropriate variables and categories are identified through a literature review and expert opinion survey. The benchmark values of the variables are derived by contemplating the pilgrimage cities of Tamil Nadu, one of the states with the largest tourist arrivals in India. Subsequently, three prominent pilgrimage cities from Tamil Nadu were chosen for the case study and the method was tested.

The result reveals that the cities investigated are performing above average in the sustainability index, with slight variations in their dimension scores. While the category scores of cities assist in identifying macro-level issues, the variable scores provide an insight into micro-level issues. Furthermore, the gap analysis between the benchmark and the present value of each variable discloses the immediate area of attention in each city. Thus, the cities could set more specific targets, frame strategies and/or collaborate with matching cities to bridge these gaps.

This index assessment provides a comparison of the pros and cons of these pilgrimage cities and helps identify their demand and supply. Policymakers can find appropriate tools and approaches that aid in sustainable urban development and tourism management.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in emphasizing the application of the benchmarking method to assess the sustainability of Indian pilgrimage sites. With appropriate modifications, this method can be used in varied contexts across the globe.

This study aims to extract information and analyze the antecedents of Muslims following pilgrimage tours. Data from the Central Bureau of Statistics Indonesia shows that 87.18 per cent of the total population of Indonesia are Muslims. In addition to running the ruling of Islam and the pillars of Faith, Muslims also maintain the religious tourism. The form of religious tourism which is widely followed by the Muslims of Indonesia is to follow a pilgrimage to the tomb of the wali (Guardian), both wali limo and wali songo.

This study used a qualitative approach. Data collection was done using in-depth interviews of Muslims in Indonesia who had already attended pilgrimages to wali limo and/or wali songo.

The tourists are satisfied and have an intention to revisit the destination, and the interest of the community to follow religious tours is very large, as well as the opportunities to do business in this sector are still wide open. Various motives and benefits of following religious tours, as well as suggestions for improvements for religious tourism destination managers, as well as advice for the government were uncovered. Thus, the results of this study are expected to provide a theoretical contribution related to marketing management in religious tourism and a practical contribution for the managers of religious tourism.

Further research can be done with a quantitative approach, as well as comparative studies between pilgrimages in Indonesia (developing countries) and pilgrimages in other developing countries or in developed countries can also be conducted.

For marketing practitioners, the results of this study can be used as a consideration to continue to improve services in the field of religious tourism in the country, given the potential for development is very large.

There is a contribution from this study to the development of marketing science, particularly related to marketing management on religious tourism services.

This study offers new insight regarding factors influencing Muslims pilgrimage tourism in Indonesia.

The pilgrimage and tourist industry, which brings just under two million people from around the world to Israel and the Occupied Territories every year, is both a microcosm and perpetuator of the political tensions which divide Jews and Palestinians. This paper investigates the detrimental impact of religious tourism to the Holy Land. Different types of western Protestant pilgrimage are highlighted, as well as categories of tour operator. The consequences of this kind of tourism for the indigenous Palestinian Christians are examined, together with the ethical issues determined by the dominant political force in the region ‐ the Israeli Government. Tour operators and tour group leaders face significant ethical dilemmas in seeking either political balance or religious solidarity, and these are explored. The conclusions address some of the characteristics of what might be termed “responsible pilgrimages” to the Holy Land. This research is based on 12 years’ experience of leading pilgrimages and five years as a director of a travel company, Highway Journeys. The empirical data is drawn from surveys of tour groups, together with interviews with tour group leaders and operators.

This paper aims to explore the ways in which religious tourism in India fosters religious tolerance.

The paper uses a conceptual apparatus derived from the basic structure of religious tourism comprising motivation, journey and destination, to understand various aspects of tolerance. Tolerance, with the implicit meaning of diversity and pluralism, is examined at two levels – intra-religion and inter-religion – using field investigations from three Hindu pilgrimage sites, namely, Vrindavan, Tuljapur, Shegaon and review of one Muslim site called Ajmer Sharif. These sites exhibit a range of combinations, sectarian traditions within Hindu and their interactions with others, including Muslims and foreigners.

Each of the sites provides different sets of opportunities for the “others” to get exposed to religious and cultural aspects. It is found that tolerance within the Hindu sects and with non-Hindus from other religious faiths is a function of their engagement with cultural performances and participation in the religious tourism economy in a pilgrimage site.

On a broader level, this paper argues that conceptualising tolerance within a social and cultural sphere helps in a better understanding of tolerance and identifying areas within religious tourism where it can be promoted. A conscious effort to promote tolerance through religious tourism will add value to religious tourism and help it thrive.

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.

The study investigates the mediated moderation impact of Memorable Religious Experience (MRE) and Religiosity (REL) on the relationship between Memorable Tourism Experience (MTE) and Attitude towards Pilgrimage (ATT) finally driving Recommend Intention (RCI) of visitors to a religious site. It suggests visitors' incentive variable religiosity can influence their decision to recommend visiting a religious destination.

The research uses a quantitative cross-sectional approach wherein a self-administered survey was used for data collection from 223 pilgrims who visited a popular pilgrimage site. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed for analysis.

The results showed that MTE has a significant influence on ATT which further influences RCI (a dimension of behavioral intention-BI) of visitors towards a religious destination. Further, MRE mediates the relationship between MTE and ATT. Nevertheless, REL illustrated a significant moderation influence on the relationship between MRE and ATT, further verifying the mediated moderation impact of MRE and REL in the model.

Recommendation of existing customers is one of the most powerful indicators of customer loyalty and usually leads to revisit. The research provides destination managers/tourism planners of pilgrimage sites to formulate appropriate marketing strategies to develop RCI and sustainable branding.

This study adds to the empirical studies conducted on REL by constructing a composite picture of the memorable tourism experience within a pilgrimage tourism context. The uniqueness lies in the attempt to investigate the mediated moderation impact of MRE and REL using a symmetric (PLS-SEM) approach.