Research Agenda for Religious Tourism

Edited by Kiran A. Shinde, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University and Joseph M. Cheer, Professor of Sustainable Tourism and Heritage, School of Social Sciences, Western Sydney University, Australia

• Contents:Foreword xiiiKevin A. Griffin1 Religious tourism: the journey so far 1Kiran A. Shinde2 Memory, sacred landscapes and religioustourism: pilgrim perceptions in Ayodhya, India 21Amita Sinha and Shubhada Kamalapurkar3 Multi-stakeholder governance for religioustourism and pilgrimage routes in Europe 39Maria Laura Gasparini and Alessia Mariotti4 Short-term mission trips in Asia: intertwiningreligion, volunteering and tourism 57Grace Ann, Chua and Harng Luh, Sin5 The role of religious tourism for povertyalleviation in rural communities 71Jaeyeon Choe and Anne Marie Bagadion6 The role of place attachment on the marketing ofreligious sites for tourism 85Pascal von Beuningen7 The dark side of pilgrimage and religious tourism:conflict, contestations and fallouts 101Daniel H. Olsen and Kiran A. Shinde8 Virtual religious tourism: an agenda for future research 115Eleanor O’Keeffe and Ruth Dowson9 Walking tourism on a spiritual trail: competingneeds from the sacred landscapes 131Sabrina Meneghello10 Whither religious tourism research? Conclusionand final remarks 147Joseph M. CheerIndex 157

‘Historically, religious journey is assumed to be the oldest motive of human movement. Over time it became a popular tradition and has been studied in different contexts. These ten essays offer a critical appraisal of the literature, representing studies from Asia, Europe, India, and Japan. Fresh issues such as marketing, place attachment, the dark side of pilgrimage, spirituality, sacred geography, reciprocity between pilgrimage and religious journey are examined and illustrated with case studies, both in terms of theoretical construction and application. The messages conveyed in this anthology will provide a radiant platform linking perspectives, problems, and prospectives for deeper understanding and new dimensions of research in this field.’