Tourism

The practice of religion has a long association with travel. From small-scale rites of passage that involve some sort of physical journey to pilgrimages involving the movement of millions of people, the idea that long distance or long-term travel away from home can transform permeates many cultures. However, advances in travel technologies and changes to class and cultural systems have resulted in the experience of travel being available to many more people than ever before. Many locations previously visited chiefly by travelers participating within the religious traditions they supported now see tourists from all around the world. Not all of these tourists travel for religious reasons, even if they are informed by cultural notions that favor travel as an opportunity for change. Nonetheless, religious tourism has been one of the least studied areas in research on tourism. How these tourists conceive of their journeys and how they place them in their lives reveal the extent to which travel can be seen as a metaphor, and sometimes a surrogate, for religious practice.