Motivations of urban millennials for spiritual travel in India

Abstract

ABSTRACT The understanding of spirituality has come far from the traditional viewpoint of being a subset of religion. Consequently, contemporary spiritual tourism includes a vast realm of experiences to cater to heterogeneous spiritual tourists. Young travellers worldwide are increasingly attracted to spirituality. The research’s principal objective is to determine the factors driving urban millennials in India to travel for spirituality. This objective was achieved through phenomenological analysis of their interviews which renders a meaningful understanding of their travel choices and behaviour. The push factors such as mental morbidities, corporate pressure, or curiosity shape the spiritual tourists’ motivations, which are further manifested in the kind of activities they opt for during their journey. Therefore, the study identifies the prominent push factors and the motivations of the Indian Urban Millennial Spiritual Tourist (UMST). Further, the authors highlight the most desirable traits the spiritual tourists look for in a destination.