Tourism Accessibility and Its Impact on the Spiritual Sustainability of Sacred Sites

Silvia Aulet,Tomasz Duda

doi:10.3390/su12229695

Abstract

Religious heritage sites are defined by their nature, both religious and non-religious (historical, social, cultural, etc.), as being pilgrimage destinations, as well as tourist attractions. The main aim of this paper is to determine whether there is a relationship between tourism accessibility and the concept of spiritual sustainability. Spiritual sustainability is presented in the paper by analyzing the concept of a sacred place and the connection it may have with tourism development. The authors have attempted to distinguish the elements determining the tourist and religious (spiritual) attractiveness of several pilgrimage sites as destinations for religious tourism, proposing a model for analyzing the connection between the two concepts studied. Two European regions have been compared—Pomerania (Poland) and Catalonia (Spain)—by analyzing 30 sacred sites (15 per region) using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. The results show that a lack of accessibility positively affects the spiritual sustainability of the sites. In other cases, the impact that accessibility can have depends on the management system.

Highlights

Religious tourism, and, to a certain extent, pilgrimages, take place in a specific and defined geographical space, which is part of the broadly comprehended cultural landscape
The results show that a lack of accessibility positively affects the spiritual sustainability of the sites
The comparison of the data obtained allowed the authors to explore the connection between accessibility and spiritual sustainability

Summary

Introduction

To a certain extent, pilgrimages, take place in a specific and defined geographical space, which is part of the broadly comprehended cultural landscape. A sacred place, often referred to as a holy site or sacred site, is defined as the result of the individualization of landscape perception and its nature, both the religious and historical, social, geographical, and cultural [1,2]. It can be both a strictly motivated destination of wandering (pilgrimage), as well as a place with dominant features of regional or local culture and historical or religious heritage elements [3]

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Conclusion