Academic Paper
21 January 2025
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Academic Paper
21 January 2025
A Spiritual Pilgrimage to a Celtic Homeland: Searching and Internalising in Grief from Stone to Sea. A Collaborative Autoethnography
This collaborative autoethnography poses the research question; How does one’s experience of grief and anticipatory grief mobilise pilgrimage journeys to ancestral homelands? Two theoretical constructs found in the academic literature related to grief and loss are explored for their influence on both authors’ respective pilgrimage journeys to the Celtic ancestral homeland of their deceased and ‘vanishing’ fathers in Wales and Ireland. The theoretical constructs explored through an extensive review of paternal personal documents of one author (Laura), revealed thematic ideas that could be best understood through an elaboration of the academic literature(s) that inform understandings of grief and bereavement. These being: 1) Searching for the deceased or ‘vanishing’ other in grief, and 2) The process of internalising those who are no longer with us. For both authors these two conceptual understandings were instrumental in mobilising pilgrimage journeys to Celtic paternal homelands. For myself (Laura), encounters with Aberystwyth University, St David’s Cathedral and small chapels in the Welsh countryside where ancestral relations were interred were organised more than two decades after the death of my father. For Eunice, a pilgrimage journey to Ireland decades earlier with her living, recently diagnosed (Alzheimer’s disease) but ‘vanishing’ elderly father was similarly shaped by these two theoretical considerations in grief / anticipatory grief. Further expansion of these ideas allows for a deeper understanding of the personal and generalisable motivations that influenced the mobilisation of two separate and distinct pilgrimages to the Celtic ancestral homelands of the authors’ beloved fathers.Current Articles
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Academic Paper
14 November 2014
The Effects of Terrorism on the Travel and Tourism Industry
The impact of terrorism on the travel and tourism industry can be enormous. It can lead to unemployment, homelessness, deflation, and many other social and economic ills. The contribution of tourism for many countries is so great that any downturn in the industry is a cause of major concern for many governments. The repercussions are left in many other industries associated with tourism like airlines, hotels, restaurants and shops that cater to the tourists and allied services. Terrorism is an enigmatic and compelling phenomenon, and its relationship with tourism is complex and multifaceted. This paper aims to clarify this relationship and examines the relationship between selected factors and tourists’ decision-making process for destination choice. Tourists’ risk perception associated with terrorism served as a basis for the analysis.Editorial
27 February 2018
The Importance of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage: reflecting on definitions, motives and data
This discussion paper explores the topic of religious tourism and pilgrimage, examining it from a tourism industry perspective, reflecting on definitions, motivations and scale of the ‘product’ as reported at a global level. Mindful of the fact that international records of religious tourism are scant to say the least, this is an attempt to bring together definitions, classifications and data which come from a variety of sources. The paper draws together understandings from different religious traditions, presenting data and motivations on a variety of pilgrimage types. As the paper demonstrates, this ‘niche’ product is indeed enormous, and if industry projections are correct, is set to become an even more important element of international travel and tourism.Academic Paper
29 October 2016
The Role of Religious Tourism in Creating Destination Image: The Case of Konya Museum
The image of a destination comprises perceptions acquired by individuals, oriented to the specifications of a destination. Touristic destinations are, in order to be able to attract more tourists in the competition environment, in charge of developing marketing efforts, making the best of positioning their products and services together with their economic, cultural and social dimensions in the intelligence of tourists. In this direction, the aim of this study is to determine the destination image perceived by tourists who travel with the purpose of religious tourism when they visit to Konya Museum (Mawlana Jalaladdin Rumi). The data for the study were obtained by surveying visitors to Konya Mawlana Museum. In the study, the relationships between the demographic data of the visitors and the destination images that they perceived were studied. The findings suggest that most respondents now use social media to seek information about the Museum. Via these channels they are assured of high levels of satisfaction based on their expectations. In addition, respondents receive and expect a spiritual dimension to their satisfaction.Academic Paper
17 March 2022
Socio-cultural and Economic Impacts of Religious Festivals on Sustainable Local Community Livelihoods in Kerala: The Case of Palakkad
Festivals depict the heritage, culture, and traditions of a particular region. They create a state of exhilaration and enthusiasm. Kerala is a state in southwest India with its own distinct culture and traditions. The state is also known for its religious pluralism. This study attempts to understand the perceived impact of religious festivals on the local community livelihoods in Palakkad, a district in central Kerala. Twelve temples in which religious festivals are held annually, with attendance in the range of thousands, were selected. The selected temples are famous for hosting specific religious festivals which attract a large number of visitors, from within and beyond the region. Using a sample of 420 community members living around these temples, this study examined how the socio-cultural and economic impacts of these religious festivals are perceived by the community. The findings show that there is a statistically significant relationship between the perceived socio-cultural and economic impacts of festivals on local communities. The celebration of local values and distinctiveness were evident in these religious festivals. The local community considers these festivals as part of their community identity and as offering impetus for annual family and community reunions.Academic Paper
4 May 2018
Pilgrimage-Tourism: Common Themes in Different Religions
The paper discusses common themes in different religions regarding pilgrimage-tourism and has four main goals. First, it shows that the boundaries between pilgrimage and tourism have become blurred. Second, it characterises the different changes that have taken place in pilgrimage research in recent years. Third, it re-examines three different pilgrimage case-studies in an effort to draw conclusions pertaining to the ‘pilgrimagetourism nexus’; and fourth, it highlights discrepancies between the ‘old’ paradigm, predicated on the assumption that religious elements lie at the core of pilgrimage, and the results of more recent research on secular models of travel, highlighting alternative and complementary approaches to explain the shifting boundaries between tourists and pilgrims. The three case-studies discussed offer evidence that both the study and the phenomena of pilgrimage in the twenty-first century are changing. This comes along with the increasing blurring of pilgrimage, tourism, and secular tourism, and the fading differences between the desires of people to search for new meaning. These developments can be observed by doing away with distinctions that were accepted in the past, and a growing inability to distinguish between the different perceptions and research areas, which are becoming increasingly integrated.Academic Paper
8 February 2016