IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i6p1890-d150850.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Religious Experiences of Travellers Visiting the Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe (Spain)

Author

Listed:
  • Rafael Robina Ramírez

    (Business and Sociology Department, University of Extremadura, Avenida de la Universidad s/n, 10071 Cáceres (Extremadura), Spain)

  • Manuel Pulido Fernández

    (Geography Department, University of Extremadura, Avenida de la Universidad s/n, 10071 Cáceres (Extremadura), Spain)

Abstract

The Royal Monastery of Guadalupe has been one of the most important religious destinations in Spain since the 14th century, when the black wooden sculpture of the Virgin Mary (sculpted in the 1st century AD) was found. It was declared a World Heritage Site by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization (UNESCO) in 1993 and is presently a tourism attraction of international interest. It is visited by more than 60,000 tourists annually, including pilgrims and other people interested in the cultural and natural heritage of the area. The aim of this study was to decipher ways that religiousness is experienced by tourists with different motivations, i.e., to better understand how religion is linked to tourism through embodied notions of godliness in different modalities of tourism. A total of 242 visitors were interviewed in the summer of 2017. They were asked about the main motivations for their visits, which were classified into five groups (religious, cultural, environmental, social, and educational reasons) and used as latent variables in a path structural equation model (SEM). The model showed strong predictive power (R 2 = 87.5%) reporting a significant positive influence of religious, cultural, and environmental motivations on religious tourism in this region.

Suggested Citation

  • Rafael Robina Ramírez & Manuel Pulido Fernández, 2018. "Religious Experiences of Travellers Visiting the Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe (Spain)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-19, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:6:p:1890-:d:150850
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/6/1890/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/6/1890/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Buzinde, Christine N. & Kalavar, Jyotsna M. & Kohli, Neena & Manuel-Navarrete, David, 2014. "Emic understandings of Kumbh Mela pilgrimage experiences," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 1-18.
    2. Amaro, Suzanne & Antunes, Angela & Henriques, Carla, 2018. "A closer look at Santiago de Compostela's pilgrims through the lens of motivations," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 271-280.
    3. Nyaupane, Gyan P. & Timothy, Dallen J. & Poudel, Surya, 2015. "Understanding tourists in religious destinations: A social distance perspective," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 343-353.
    4. Jaafar, Mastura & Noor, Shuhaida Md & Rasoolimanesh, S. Mostafa, 2015. "Perception of young local residents toward sustainable conservation programmes: A case study of the Lenggong World Cultural Heritage Site," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 154-163.
    5. Singleton, Andrew, 2017. "The summer of the Spirits: Spiritual tourism to America’s foremost village of spirit mediums," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 48-57.
    6. Nilsson, Mats & Tesfahuney, Mekonnen, 2016. "Performing the “post-secular” in Santiago de Compostela," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 18-30.
    7. Khoshkam, Mana & Marzuki, Azizan & Al-Mulali, Usama, 2016. "Socio-demographic effects on Anzali wetland tourism development," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 96-106.
    8. Hughes, K. & Bond, N. & Ballantyne, R., 2013. "Designing and managing interpretive experiences at religious sites: Visitors' perceptions of Canterbury Cathedral," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 210-220.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yoo, Jaeho & Choe, Yunseon & Lee, Gyehee, 2022. "Exploring pilgrimage value by ZMET: The mind of Christian pilgrims," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    2. Kuo-Yan Wang, 2022. "Sustainable Tourism Development Based upon Visitors’ Brand Trust: A Case of “100 Religious Attractions”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-30, February.
    3. Terzidou, Matina & Scarles, Caroline & Saunders, Mark N.K., 2017. "Religiousness as tourist performances: A case study of Greek Orthodox pilgrimage," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 116-129.
    4. Husemann, Katharina C. & Eckhardt, Giana M. & Grohs, Reinhard & Saceanu, Raluca E., 2016. "The dynamic interplay between structure, anastructure and antistructure in extraordinary experiences," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3361-3370.
    5. Hany Kim & Semih Yilmaz & Soyoun Ahn, 2019. "Motivational Landscape and Evolving Identity of a Route-Based Religious Tourism Space: A Case of Camino de Santiago," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-20, June.
    6. Buzinde, Christine N., 2020. "Theoretical linkages between well-being and tourism: The case of self-determination theory and spiritual tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    7. Wang, Shaohua & Blasco, Dani & Hamzah, Amran & Verschuuren, Bas, 2023. "Tourists and ‘philosophers’: Nature as a medium to consciousness and transcendence in spiritual tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    8. Tahani Hassan & Mauricio Carvache-Franco & Wilmer Carvache-Franco & Orly Carvache-Franco, 2022. "Segmentation of Religious Tourism by Motivations: A Study of the Pilgrimage to the City of Mecca," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-19, June.
    9. Ballantyne, Roy & Hughes, Karen & Bond, Nigel, 2016. "Using a Delphi approach to identify managers' preferences for visitor interpretation at Canterbury Cathedral World Heritage Site," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 72-80.
    10. Moayad Mohammad Alrwajfah & Fernando Almeida-García & Rafael Cortés-Macías, 2019. "Residents’ Perceptions and Satisfaction toward Tourism Development: A Case Study of Petra Region, Jordan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-19, March.
    11. Kyuri Baek & Yunseon Choe & Seungjae Lee & Gyehee Lee & Tae-Il Pae, 2022. "The Effects of Pilgrimage on the Meaning in Life and Life Satisfaction as Moderated by the Tourist’s Faith Maturity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-20, March.
    12. Mutia Sobihah Abdul Halim & Ekrem Tatoglu & Shamsiah Banu Mohamad Hanefar, 2021. "A Review Of Spiritual Tourism: A Conceptual Model For Future Research," Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, vol. 27(1), pages 119-141, May.
    13. Wilawan Jansri, 2019. "Perception of Residents, Community Participation and Support for Tourism Development in the Old Town Muang Songkhla, Thailand," Proceedings of the 13th International RAIS Conference, June 10-11, 2019 07WJ, Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies.
    14. Getz, Donald & Page, Stephen J., 2016. "Progress and prospects for event tourism research," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 593-631.
    15. Ahmed Abdel Fattah & Mary Eddy-U, 2022. "The unique twin approaches of Sufi Sheikhs and host-guest relationships at El Sayed Ahmed El-Badawy Mosque in Egypt," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 2723-2750, August.
    16. Junkyu Park & Mark A. Bonn & Meehee Cho, 2020. "Sustainable and Religion Food Consumer Segmentation: Focusing on Korean Temple Food Restaurants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-19, April.
    17. Rafael Robina Ramírez & Manuel Pulido Fernández, 2018. "Religious Travellers’ Improved Attitude towards Nature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-23, August.
    18. Rasoolimanesh, S. Mostafa & Ringle, Christian M. & Jaafar, Mastura & Ramayah, T., 2017. "Urban vs. rural destinations: Residents’ perceptions, community participation and support for tourism development," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 147-158.
    19. Mauro Romanelli & Patrizia Gazzola & Daniele Grechi & Francesca Pollice, 2021. "Towards a sustainability‐oriented religious tourism," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 386-396, May.
    20. I. A. Pikrammenos & Ch. Ntelopoulou, 2018. "Business model for sustainable development of alternative touristic services: case study the religious tourism," Business & Entrepreneurship Journal, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 7(2), pages 1-2.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:6:p:1890-:d:150850. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.