Pilgrimage or sacred tourism? A modern phenomenon with historical roots, with examples from Fatima and Santiago de Compostela

Abstract

The aim of the article is both to discuss the phenomenon of pilgrim tourism from a post-modern perspective characterised by an increasing secularisation and to illustrate with the aid of a couple of examples - Santiago de Compostela in Spain and Fatima in Portugal – the distinctive features of this type of tourism-related product and link it to a regional development perspective. It isincreasingly obviousthat the world is becomingmore polarised with an orthodoxconservative
religious wind blowing across the world at the same time as an increasingly secular view of life is gaining ground reducing religiousness in everyday life to a more subordinate position.We will therefore stress the importance of the desire to visit religious sites to find fellowship and achieve mental satisfaction is growing in importance. Irrespective of the individual’s purpose in making their journey to various sacred sites in the world, the tourist industry is growing in importance here and
thus, in the future, ever greater demands will placed on the regional and local actors who receive visitors at these sites.
There are considerable opportunities for these actors to further develop sacred tourism as a post-modern tourism niche.