Author ORCID Identifier
0000-0002-1620-9226
Abstract
This exploratory study analyses experiences of pilgrims from India and all over the world to Kartarpur Peace Corridor for religious tourism. The historic Kartarpur Corridor, the holiest place for the Sikh religion, in Pakistan, was opened for Sikh pilgrimage in November 2019, after 72 years since partition. The qualitative research method of cultural ethnography and netnographic research, was applied to collect secondary data by watching 78 YouTube interviews from November-2019 to March-2020, at the Kartarpur complex by private bloggers. Interview comments by pilgrims relevant to this exploratory research were selected, analysing experiences of pilgrims and spiritual tourists traveling from India and overseas to Kartarpur Gurdwara for a religious pilgrimage from November- 2019 until the border corridor closure due to Covid-19 in March-2020.
A total of 78 YouTube privately uploaded vlogs lasting from 15 to 25 minutes were watched and 29 YouTube vlogs were selected as being relevant to this research, with appropriate comments from participants answering the designed research questions. Total of 81 participants were recognised as their interviews and comments were recorded, translated, and transcribed. Findings indicate four segments of religious tourists visiting Kartarpur Corridor based on their motivations and experiences. Interrelated themes with policy implications were generated that could be used by tourism organisers and government planners. A future study is planned which will involve a visit to Kartarpur to collect qualitative and quantitative data directly from religious tourists to compare with findings of this study.
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Recommended Citation
HAQ, Farooq and Medhekar, Anita
(2025)
"Evaluating the Religious Experience of Pilgrims at Kartarpur Corridor: A Qualitative Analysis,"
International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage:
Vol. 13:
Iss.
3, Article 10.
doi:https://doi.org/10.21427/wn9v-4z82
Available at:
https://arrow.tudublin.ie/ijrtp/vol13/iss3/10
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21427/wn9v-4z82