Location
Palermo
Start Date
26-6-2025 9:30 AM
End Date
26-6-2025 11:00 AM
Description
The flourishing of the religious tourism industry worldwide has created opportunities for the development of various religious products and services at sacred sites. Indeed, the expansion of commercial spaces on the periphery of holy sites demonstrates that contemporary sacred sites can be analysed in terms of not only their religious significance and the religious motivations of visitors but also their economic dimensions, including commercial activities and property management in such places.
In previous studies, Shackley (2001) and others have emphasised the concept of management at sacred sites, highlighting the importance of analysing commercial spaces surrounding these sites, as well as the religiously related products and services supplied in the places that reflect visitors’ motivations, attitudes, and mentalities. These studies examine the governance of sacred spaces in relation to religious authenticity and visitor satisfaction through the distribution of products and services.
Building on this body of research, recent studies have explored the nature of asset management at sacred sites by analysing the commercialisation and gentrification of spaces around them. These studies have attempted to reveal the economic realities of religious activities at sacred sites by developing economic indicators such as property values and investment activities. However, they have not focused on the agglomeration of religious resources” such as religious goods, services, information, and human resources” which contribute to religious legitimacy and visitor satisfaction at sacred sites.
Based on the above discussion, this presentation examines the characteristics of tourism asset management at sacred sites by analysing the degree of religious resource agglomeration using the cases of Japanese religious cities such as Tenri City in Nara and Izumo City in Shimane, among other related cities in the country.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21427/9mrw-x073
Included in
B3) Tourism Asset Management in Religious Cities: A Study of Religious Resources in Japanese Sacred Sites
Palermo
The flourishing of the religious tourism industry worldwide has created opportunities for the development of various religious products and services at sacred sites. Indeed, the expansion of commercial spaces on the periphery of holy sites demonstrates that contemporary sacred sites can be analysed in terms of not only their religious significance and the religious motivations of visitors but also their economic dimensions, including commercial activities and property management in such places.
In previous studies, Shackley (2001) and others have emphasised the concept of management at sacred sites, highlighting the importance of analysing commercial spaces surrounding these sites, as well as the religiously related products and services supplied in the places that reflect visitors’ motivations, attitudes, and mentalities. These studies examine the governance of sacred spaces in relation to religious authenticity and visitor satisfaction through the distribution of products and services.
Building on this body of research, recent studies have explored the nature of asset management at sacred sites by analysing the commercialisation and gentrification of spaces around them. These studies have attempted to reveal the economic realities of religious activities at sacred sites by developing economic indicators such as property values and investment activities. However, they have not focused on the agglomeration of religious resources” such as religious goods, services, information, and human resources” which contribute to religious legitimacy and visitor satisfaction at sacred sites.
Based on the above discussion, this presentation examines the characteristics of tourism asset management at sacred sites by analysing the degree of religious resource agglomeration using the cases of Japanese religious cities such as Tenri City in Nara and Izumo City in Shimane, among other related cities in the country.