Preaching to the Devoted - Destinatiosn of the World News

Preaching to the Devoted - Destinations of the World News
April 2008
By Leah Larkin
Website link: Preaching to the devoted

Increasing numbers of countries are devoting more attention to faith-based travellers with tourism boards taking a long-term view to establish and develop their brand within this lucrative segment.

Jordan is a case in point. Christine Moore of Epiphany Media in Texas is a consultant for the Jordan Tourist Board who was hired in 2000 to represent the religious market. The country recognises the potential of this market in North America, she says. Travellers want to do more than just visit holy sites.

“Jordan is uniquely capable of meeting all the needs of the 21st century traveller offering a holistic religious travel experience,” she says. In addition to visiting holy sites, travellers can go to Petra, ride a camel, drive a jeep, and go to the Dead Sea for a spa experience. “Its a one-stop destination.” Last year tourism from North and South America increased more than five per cent, with religious sites seeing “huge increases”.

Switzerland is another example of a country responding to the clout of the religious holidaymaker. Eighteen months ago, Mirko Capodanno, trade manager of central USA and Canada for Switzerland Tourism, started a project to cater to this market segment. “I wanted to do something for this special interest group,” he says. “There is a lot of religious history in Switzerland.” He has been promoting Reformation sites in the country associated with the movement’s leaders John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli. Many religions popular in the US, such as Baptist, Mennonite and Amish, have origins in Switzerland. Capodanno aims to promote the country to the religious market and specific tour group leaders.

The Bahamas has both a dedicated religious travel department and director. Calling itself a “God-centred country”, it has been entertaining religious travellers for years by inviting pastors to speak to congregations as well as hosting religious meetings. Linville Johnson, deputy director of the religious market for the country's ministry of tourism, said eight years ago they began inviting pastors to bring their congregations to the islands.

Although no statistics are available, religious travel appears to be increasing. “Hotels tell us they have more business from religious groups,” Johnson says. The country even has a religious travel website http://www.worship.bahamas.com/

It may not have a religious travel department, but Northern Ireland is cashing in on St Patrick. As the country has become increasingly attractive to travellers, there’s been new interest in its patron saint who is venerated around the world. A US$12 million Saint Patrick Centre opened in 2001. It is described as “the only permanent exhibition in the world about Patrick which has fast become an essential stop for tourists who are coming to discover the northern part of the island”.

The election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger from Germany as the new pope (Pope Benedict XVI) is reviving interest in that country as a religious destination. There is now a Pope Benedict route in Bavaria to places associated with the leader. Victoria Larson, the country’s tourist office PR manager in New York, said the cathedral in Cologne is the most visited tourist site in the country. Luther sites in Thuringia and Saxony are also popular, as well as developments with Judaism, such as new synagogues in Munich and Berlin and Jewish museums in both cities. “I sense a resurgence of interest in Judaism in Germany,” she says.

Sharmila Singh, owner of the Indian travel agency, Travel India, says recent years have seen a boom in religious travel to holy sites in the country, be they Hindu, Buddhist or Christian. “The government has woken up to promote tourism,” she says, mentioning development at religious sites to make them more accessible to travellers. In some cases, helicopters now whisk passengers to destinations such as the Hindu site Vaishno Devi, previously reachable only via a 14-kilometre uphill trek. The site has a helipad and trains now make Buddhist sites easy to reach. “With tourism growing lots of hotels are being developed,” she says.

Bulgaria is promoting monastery tours, Turkey its mosques and churches. Minivans now shuttle tourists to churches and sacred tombs in the hinterlands of Ethiopia. Toronto boasts that it is a multi-faith city with religious attractions for all faiths. Japan publicises its 88 temples pilgrimage. Arizona encourages travel to the Canyon de Chelly National Monument, sacred Navaho ground where religious groups meditate and seek inspiration. The list is endless.

Added to that list are new attractions for the religious, including theme parks in both Argentina and Florida. Catechism meets adventure at Tierra Santa (Holy Land) in Buenos Aires where visitors can climb a version of Mt Calvary. Called the “Disney of religion,” it features mechanical figures playing out scenes such as the Last Supper.

“At Holy Land Experience in Orlando Jesus Christ is crucified and resurrected six days a week,” notes Associated Press. This Christian theme park terms itself a “living Biblical museum” and has a scale model of Jerusalem, an exhibit on the Dead Sea Scrolls and a model of the garden tomb where Christ was supposedly buried.

Meanwhile, between 1,500 and 4,000 visitors stand in line for as long as an hour each day to enter Kentucky’s new US$27 million Creation Museum where animatronic exhibits present the Bible’s creation story as fact. Attendance at the controversial museum, which has attracted visitors from France, Brazil, Japan and Hong Kong, in addition to America, has surpassed expectations.

Mansfield, Ohio, boasts that it has the only Biblical wax museum in the US. “Visitors come from all over the world,” says Julie Hardin, the director of the museum called Biblewalk. “Some don’t speak English and we don’t have an interpreter. They still come out with tears in their eyes because of what they’ve seen and the love of God in this building.”

To date, there has been no international exhibition bringing together those involved in the expanding religious travel market. That will change in autumn thanks to the World Religious Travel Association which will sponsor the first annual World Religious Travel Expo and Education Conference from October 29 in Orlando.

“All segments will be represented including pilgrimage, cruising, missions, attractions, conferences, retreats, camps and volunteer vacations,” says Wright, the organisation’s director. As Brodhecker of MTS Travel says, “Today faith-based travel is no longer targeted at a niche. It’s for the mainstream customer who wants a vacation that makes religion come alive.”