A Review of the State of Recent Santiago de Compostela Tourism Research (2016–2020)

Brian Komyathy

Abstract


As the issue of tourism is fundamentally connected with the modern incarnation of the pilgrimage routes to Santiago, this meta-analysis of research studies addressing pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela utilizes Cohen’s typology of tourism (as adapted by Uriely, Yonay and Simchai). This survey of recent research (published between 2016 and 2020) suggests that this phenomenon is still much under-researched. Few studies have been published recently and even fewer that have generated recent data. Earlier it was thought that this phenomenon was taken as a sign of resurging religiosity and more recently as an illustration of spiritual Bauman-style “post-secularist” pilgrimage. This review suggests that pilgrimage travel to Santiago might well yield richer research data if probed from a less dichotomous perspective, focusing more on the variety of the populations on the multiple routes to Santiago and from additional research angles, as religious tourism, as therapy and as recreation. 


Keywords


Santiago de Compostela; Camino de Santiago; pilgrimages; religious tourism; tourism motivations

Full Text:

PDF

References


Amaro, S., Antunes, A., Henriques, C. (2018). A closer look at Santiago de Compostela’s pilgrims through the lens of motivations. Tourism Management, 64, 271–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.09.007

Bauman, Z. (2013). From Pilgrim to Tourist – or a Short History of Identity. In P.D. Gay, S. Hall (Eds.), Questions of Cultural Identity (pp. 18–36). Sage.

Blom, T., Nilsson, M., Santos, X. (2016). The way to Santiago beyond Santiago. Fisterra and the pilgrimage’s post-secular meaning. European Journal of Tourism Research, 12, 133–144. https://doi.org/10.54055/ejtr.v12i.217

Brumec, S. (2021). The Camino de Santiago in Late Modernity: Examining transformative aftereffects of the pilgrimage experience. International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, 9(6). https://doi.org/10.21427/ganh-va40

Brumec, S. (2022). Life changes after the Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage, including a deeper sense of spirituality. Journal for the Study of Spirituality, 12(1), 20–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/20440243.2022.2042948

Brumec, S., Lavrič, M., Naterer, A. (2022). Exceptional human experiences among pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago: A typology of experiences and transformative aftereffects. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000456

Casais, B., Sousa, B. (2020). Heterogeneity of motivations and conflicts in pilgrim-to- -pilgrim interaction: A research on the way of Saint James. Tourism Management Perspectives, 36, 100748. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2020.100748

Challenger, D. (2014). Secularization and the Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage. In L.D. Harman (Ed.), A Sociology of Pilgrimage: Embodiment, Identity, Transformation (pp. 128–145). Ursus Press.

Challenger, D. (2020). Walking Together: The Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage as Postsecular Sanctuary. In I. McIntosh, N.F. Haddad, D. Munro (Eds.), Peace Journeys: A New Direction in Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Research (pp. 121–140). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Chemin, E. (2011, Nov. 17). Pilgrimage in a secular age: Religious and consumer landscapes of late-modernity. ORE. https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/handle/10036/3672

Cohen, E. (1974). Who is a tourist?: A conceptual clarification. The Sociological Review, 22(4), 527–555. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954x.1974.tb00507.x

Cohen, E. (1979). A phenomenology of tourist experiences. Sociology, 13(2), 179–201. https://doi.org/10.1177/003803857901300203

Coleman, S. (2015). Accidental pilgrims: Passions and ambiguities of travel to Christian shrines in Europe. The Brown Journal of World Affairs, 71–81.

Collins-Kreiner, N. (2016). The lifecycle of concepts: The case of ‘pilgrimage tourism’. Tourism Geographies, 18(3), 322–334. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688. 2016.1155077

Davidson, L., Stebbins, R.A. (2011). Serious Leisure and Nature: Sustainable Consumption in the Outdoors. Palgrave Macmillan.

Eade, J., Sallnow, M.J. (1991). Contesting the sacred: The Anthropology of Christian Pilgrimage. University of Illinois Press.

Eisenstadt, S.N. (2000). Multiple modernities. Daedalus, 129(1), 1–29. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20027613

El Sepulcro del Apóstol de la Catedral de Santiago Meta de la Peregrinación Jacobea. (n.d.). Pilgrims welcome office. https://oficinadelperegrino.com/en/statistics

Fabio, C., Gian, C., Anahita, M. (2016). New trends of pilgrimage: Religion and tourism, authenticity and innovation, development and intercultural dialogue: Notes from the diary of a pilgrim of Santiago. AIMS Geosciences, 2(2), 152–165. https://doi.org/10.3934/geosci.2016.2.152

Farias, M., Coleman, T.J., Bartlett, J.E., Oviedo, L., Soares, P., Santos, T., Bas, M. del. (2019). Atheists on the Santiago way: Examining motivations to go on pilgrimage. Sociology of Religion, 80(1), 28–44. https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/sry019

Frey, N.L. (2000). Pilgrim Stories: On and Off the Road to Santiago. University of California Press.

Goodman, A. (2002). Margery Kempe and Her World. Longman.

Gomes, C., Losada, N., Pereiro, X. (2019). Motivations of pilgrims on the Portuguese inner way to Santiago de Compostela. International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, 7(2), Article 5.

Harris, M.B. (2019). The physiological effects of walking pilgrimage. International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, 7(1), Article 9.

Kempe, M. (1954). The Book of Margery Kemp: A Modern Version. (transl. W. Butler- -Bowdon). Oxford University Press. (Original work published 1438).

Kotze, N., McKay, T. (2020). South Africans walking the Camino: Pilgrimage or adventure. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 9(6), 997–1011. https://doi.org/10.46222/ajhtl.19770720-64

Kurrat, C. (2019). Biographical motivations of pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago. International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, 7(2), Article 3.

Kurrat, C., Heiser, P. (2020). “This trip is very meaningful to me, so I want to remember it forever”: Pilgrim tattoos in Santiago de Compostela. International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, 8(5), Article 3.

Lengkeek, J. (2001). Leisure experience and imagination. International Sociology, 16(2), 173–184. https://doi.org/10.1177/0268580901016002003

Liro, J. (2020). Visitors’ motivations and behaviours at pilgrimage centres: Push and pull perspectives. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 16(1), 79–99. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743873x.2020.1761820

López, L., Lois González, R.C. (2020). New tourism dynamics along the way of St. James. from undertourism and overtourism to the post-COVID-19 era. In G.X. Pons, A. Blanco-Romero, R. Navalón-García, L. Troitiño-Torralba, M. Blázquez-Salom (Eds.), Sostenibilidad Turística: overtourism vs undertourism (pp. 541–552). Mon. Soc. Hist. Nat. Balears.

Maiztegui-Oñate, C., Bertolín, M. (2005). Cultural tourism in Spain. In G. Richards (Ed.), Cultural Tourism in Europe (pp. 195–203). ATLAS.

Margry, P.J. (2008). Secular pilgrimage: A contradiction in terms? In P.J. Margry (Ed.), Shrines and Pilgrimage in the Modern World: New Itineraries into the Sacred (pp. 13–46). Amsterdam University Press.

Moscarelli, R., Lopez, L., Lois González, R.C. (2020). Who is interested in developing the way of Saint James? the pilgrimage from faith to tourism. Religions, 11(1), 24. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11010024

Moulin-Stożek, D. (2019). Pilgrims’ play on the Santiago Way. International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, 7(5), Article 4.

Mróz, F. (2021). The impact of covid-19 on pilgrimages and religious tourism in Europe during the first six months of the pandemic. Journal of Religion and Health, 60(2), 625–645. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-021-01201-0

Muslim Majority Countries. (n.d.). https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/muslim-majority-countries

Nilsson, M. (2016). Wanderers in the shadow of the sacred myth: Pilgrims in the 21st century. Social & Cultural Geography, 19(1), 21–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2016.1249398

Nilsson, M., Tesfahuney, M. (2016). Performing the “post-secular” in Santiago de Compostela. Annals of Tourism Research, 57, 18–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2015.11.001

Oviedo, L., de Courcier, S., Farias, M. (2013). Rise of pilgrims on the Camino to Santiago: Sign of change or religious revival? Review of Religious Research, 56(3), 433–442. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13644-013-0131-4

Pack, S.D. (2010). Revival of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela: The politics of religious, national, and European Patrimony, 1879–1988. The Journal of Modern History, 82(2), 335–367. https://doi.org/10.1086/651613

Pereiro, X. (2019a). Turismo y peregrinación, dos caras de la misma moneda: El Camino Portugués Interior de Santiago de Compostela. Cuadernos De Turismo, 43, 407–434. https://doi.org/10.6018/turismo.43.16

Pereiro, X. (2019b). Turismo y peregrinación, dos caras de la misma moneda: El Camino Portugués Interior de Santiago de Compostela [Extended Abstract, in English]. Cuadernos De Turismo, 43, 613–616.

Rinschede, G. (1992). Forms of religious tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 19(1), 51–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7383(92)90106-y

Roszak, P. (2019). Sacred and space in post-secular pilgrimage: The Camino de Santiago and relational model of the sacred. International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, 7(5), 33–40.

Schnell, T., Pali, S. (2013). Pilgrimage today: The meaning-making potential of ritual. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 16(9), 887–902. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2013.766449

Silva, C., Abrantes, J.L., Herstein, R., Reis, M. (2019). Motivations to visit Jerusalem, Santiago De Compostela and Fatima as sacred destinations: A generational approach. International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, 7(4), Article 8.

Sweet, L.I. (2000). Post-Modern Pilgrims: First Century Passion for the 21st Century World. Broadman & Holman.

Timothy, D.J., Olsen, D.H. (Eds.). (2006). Tourism, Religion and Spiritual Journeys. Routledge.

Turner, V. (1973). The center out there: Pilgrim’s goal. History of Religions, 12(3), 191–230. https://doi.org/10.1086/462677

Turner, V., Turner, E. (1978). Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture. Columbia University Press.

Uriely, N., Yonay, Y., Simchai, D. (2002). Backpacking experiences. Annals of Tourism Research, 29(2), 520–538. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0160-7383(01)00075-5

Vieira, M.C.P. (2019). The Way of St. James: Perspectives on the Walk through the Lens of Self-Regulation [MA thesis]. University of Minho.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/ks.2022.10.1.26-43
Date of publication: 2022-11-12 14:26:52
Date of submission: 2022-11-11 23:37:47


Statistics


Total abstract view - 712
Downloads (from 2020-06-17) - PDF - 317

Indicators



Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2022 Brian Komyathy

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.