Religious Tourism and Spaces

Religious tourism and sacred spaces sit at the intersection of geography, religion, and development, examining how people move through and make meaning of places associated with faith, ritual, and spiritual practice — from ancient pilgrimage routes to contemporary heritage sites. Researchers draw on spatial theory and cultural geography to understand how sacred landscapes are produced, contested, and transformed when religious practice meets tourism infrastructure, urban planning, and secular governance. A central tension in the literature concerns the so-called postsecular turn: rather than religion retreating from public life, it persists and resurfaces in unexpected spatial forms, complicating neat distinctions between the sacred and the secular, the devout pilgrim and the curious tourist. Open questions include how religious identity shapes — and is reshaped by — mass mobility and commodification, and what planning frameworks can accommodate spaces that carry profound spiritual meaning for some while functioning as economic and cultural assets for others.

Works

94,081

Total citations

208,610

Keywords

Religious TourismPilgrimageSacred SpacesSecularismSpiritual TourismPostsecular Geographies