Effects of Religious Tourism Policies on Religious Development

Abstract

This study focused on religious development and explored the impact of cultural and religious tourism policies on local religions. The highlight is the use of econometric models to capture the interrelationship between supply (total number of temples) and demand (total number of followers) on religion. Using Taiwan’s Mazu Cultural Tourism Festival Policies in June 2010 as an example, the impact of these policies on Taoism and Buddhism was examined from 2001 to 2021. The results showed that the believer-led model of religious development is superior to the temple-led model. When tourism policies are promoted, they positively impact Taoist temples and believers, but Buddhism does not have such a similar effect. Finally, it was found that after the millennium, when network penetration was greater, local religious beliefs showed signs of weakening. The results of the study indicate that the potential impact of the internet era on local religion deserves subsequent attention.