Research Agenda for Religious Tourism

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary.

Incisive and interdisciplinary, this Research Agenda broaches topics that have been under-researched within religious tourism, including: place attachment and marketing; memory and modification of sacred landscapes for tourism needs; the darker sides of religious tourism; multi-stakeholder governance; mission-trips; and allied forms of tourism.

With contributions from top scholars, the book includes cases from across Europe and Asia, exploring pilgrimage sacred landscapes for different religions. Building on emerging themes including the importance of governance, conflicts associated with pilgrimage and religious tourism, gender and gendered dimensions, resilience in the wake of the recent pandemic, and newer ways of performing religious tourism such as virtual reality, it sets a research agenda for future inquiry.

This thought-provoking Research Agenda will be a valuable resource for scholars of tourism, human geography, heritage studies, anthropology, and religious studies.