SPIRITUAL TOURISM AND PILGRIMAGE TOURISM CONCEPTS AND TYPOLOGY

Abstract

Religious tourism, ecumenical or tourism for faith, a subtype of cultural tourism is a form of tourism in which people of different faiths travel individually in groups or accompanied to religious sites to gather and spend their free time. Faith tourism, religious travel, religious heritage tourism or sacred and spiritual religious tourism carried out in search of a spiritual progress is a phrase of pilgrimage and church cultural tourism. An analysis of religious tourism from different perspectives contributes to the division of its forms into short-term and long-term pilgrimage tourism according to prayer structures, sites associated with events and religious places related to personalities of existing religions. From the perspective of the types of cultural tourism, religious tourism and pilgrimage, there is no general type of tourism, these forms coexisting with each other. Practicing spiritual tourism aims to admire the natural and anthropic resources with a religious vocation and the authenticity of the religious place instead, the pilgrimage as a form of tourism is done at places considered sacred being a religious practice and a form of religious tourism.