Religious tourism

Center of Mecca city. In the background, Masjid al-Haram.

Religious tourism, also commonly referred to as faith tourism, is a type of tourism, where people travel individually or in groups for pilgrimage, missionary, or leisure (fellowship) purposes. The world's largest form of mass religious tourism takes place at the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. North American religious tourists comprise an estimated $10 billion of the industry.[1]

Modern religious tourists are more able to visit holy cities and holy sites around the world. The most famous holy cities are Mecca, Madinah, Karbala, Jerusalem and Varanasi. The most famous holy sites are the Kaaba, Rauza of Imam Husain at Karbala, Church of the Nativity, The Western Wall and the Brahma Temple at Pushkar. Religious tourism has existed since antiquity. A study in 2011 found that 2.5 million people visited Karbala on the day of Arbaeen in 2013, pilgrims visited Jerusalem for a few reasons: to understand and appreciate their religion through a tangible experience, to feel secure about their religious beliefs, and to connect personally to the holy city.[2]

Tourism segments

Religious tourism comprises many facets of the travel industry including:

Statistics

Although no definitive study has been completed on worldwide religious tourism, some segments of the industry have been measured:

See also

References

  1. ↑ Washington Post.com
  2. ↑ Metti, Michael Sebastian (2011-06-01). "Jerusalem - the most powerful brand in history". Stockholm University School of Business. Retrieved 1 July 2011.

Further reading

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Christianity.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Islam.
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