Entrepreneurship development in destinations of religious tourism

Abstract

After the introduction which summarizes the basic guidelines for the development of entrepreneurship in special interest tourism, the author explores the development and application as well as the management of entrepreneurship in religious tourism as a type of special interest tourism. Religious components and motives for visiting shrines as an integral part of human culture and tradition have a strenuous impact on the tourism industry, both on the offering and demanding side. The most visited shrines such as Fatima or Lourdes attract four to eight million visitors per year. Considering the fact that this type of tourism is economically very useful in a particular local environment, many shrines as sites have become centres of religious, commercial and cultural events in certain regions throughout history. Their development was followed by investment in infrastructure, culture, catering and other facilities. The implementation of entrepreneurship is based on various segments that enable the development of religious tourism in a particular area, such as catering industry, hospitality industry, tourist mediation, transportation companies and other complementary activities (agriculture, fishing, wine production, commerce and other services). The author explores the indicators of entrepreneurship development in the field of religious tourism as a type of special interest tourism indicating the possibilities it has on the destination development. The development of special interest tourism should be based on effective investment in tourism offer through entrepreneurial projects (catering and other tourist facilities) in accordance with market trends. The investment in tourism offer in the context of religious tourism would result in the growth of religious passengers' consumption as well as the increase in income from religious tourism, and thus the economic development of the sites with religious content. Examples of such shrines in the world are numerous, such as Lourdes in France, Assisi and San Giovani Rotondo in Italy, Fatima in Portugal, Međugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina and others. This paper aims at showing the importance of entrepreneurship in special interest tourism in the field of implementation and management of entrepreneurship in religious tourism.