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Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 547548, 2007 Printed in Great Britain

Tourism, Religion, and Spiritual Journeys

Edited by Dallen Timothy and Daniel Olsen. Routledge <http:// www.routledge.com> 2006, xv + 285 pp (gures, tables, bibliography, index) 85 Hbk. ISBN 9780415354455 Amos S. Ron Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee, Israel
This volume is an important contribution because spiritual and religious tourism is one of the most understudied areas. One of the few, Vukonic (1996), is a primarily conceptual work, and this book is the next step, with a blend of about 40% conceptual and 60% case-study chapters, covering several religious and nonreligious spiritual movements. The anthology covers a large portion of the globe, both religiously and culturally. According to its editors, The aim of this book is to contribute to the growing literature on religiously motivated travel by reviewing and challenging existing paradigms, concepts, and practices related to pilgrimage and other forms of religious travel (p. 3). It consists of four sections: an introductory chapter; concepts, concerns, and management issues; religious traditions and tourism; and a concluding chapter. The rst chapter, written by the editors, is an introduction to the subject, in general, and to the book, in particular. Their comprehensive and updated literature review covers four themes: pilgrim-tourist dichotomy characteristics and travel patterns of religious tourists; economics of religious tourism and negative impacts of tourism on religious sites/ceremonies. Two additional themes could have been added here: the management and sustainability of holy sites and the distinction between religious, civil and secular pilgrimages. The second section expands the limits of traditional pilgrimage to nonreligious contexts of spiritual journeys. Its chapters deal with four main perspectives: geographical, historical, spiritual, and managerial. Two chapters deal with secular pilgrimages, but ignore the events of civil religion (civil pilgrimage) that are very popular in several cultures. The authors refer to those visiting battleelds as secular pilgrims, to 911s Ground Zero as a secular pilgrimage center, and to Anzac day as a day of secular pilgrimagebut, in fact, these are all examples of civil pilgrimage. In addition, neither of these chapters mentions the seminal work of Reader and Walter (1993) on modern civil and secular pilgrimage. An important theoretical contribution is found in chapter three, where the author makes a distinction between two kinds of secular pilgrims: those who still claim traditional religion as meeting their spiritual needs but for whom the journey fullls a deep personal meaning, and those who could loosely be grouped under the broad New Age banner (p. 37). Chapters seven and eight contribute towards narrowing the gap between managerial needs of spiritual and religious tourism, and research on the subject. In chapter eight, Daniel Olsen mentions a management vacuum, assuming the presence of site managers and custodians, thus ignoring the fact that many sites have neither. According to Olsen, government inuence ranges from suppression to subsidization. It would be useful to further develop this typology and outline more stages along this continuum.

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The third section takes the reader on a journey through nine case studies to parts of the world where several religions and spiritual movements are practiced. The chapters deal with monotheistic religions, Asia philosophies and religions, and modern secular spiritual movements. These chapters include an overview of the specic religion or spiritual movement, a useful contribution to the reader, although the overviews for Tourism and the Spiritual Philosophies of the Orient and Global Jewish Tourism: Pilgrimages and Remembrance are much too long. The chapter, Tourism and Islam: Considerations of Culture and Duty, refers only to Muslim tourism in in their own countries, thus omitting non-Muslim countries with signicant Muslim minorities, such as India and China. Western countries with large Muslim communities, such as Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, are also relevant here. Ongoing exposure to Western society has likely had a signicant impact on their tourism patterns. In a chapter on Tourism and Informal Pilgrimage among the Latter-day Saints, Olsen identies four types of destinations chosen by Mormons. However, one could suggest a fth type: visiting non-Mormon sites as part of a Mormon group, which can also be a very meaningful spiritual experience that shapes this identity. The concluding chapter re-emphasizes the relevance of the book, not only to the study of religious journeys, but also to nonreligious spiritual ones. Its authors rightly claim that the book does not solve the tourist-pilgrim debate, but perhaps a solution is not as important as understanding the roots of contention (p. 272). The conclusion suggests potential directions for future research and ends with the speculation that there are clear indications that this form of travel will continue to grow far into the future (p. 276). The book is well written and well presented. Although its tone is purely academic, intended to be used by scholars and students, potential readers include anyone interested in the eld of religion and spirituality. However, the authors overlook one important fact: religions and holy places are attractive to both members of a particular faith and outsiders. The Western Wall in Jerusalem, for example, draws multitudes of gentiles that nd the place an important attraction; Lourdes, France, draws many non-Catholics who stop there on their way to the Spanish Riviera. To conclude, the book offersnot surprisinglyseveral denitions of pilgrimage. Perhaps the best is that by Singh: Pilgrimage in the traditional sense is an inner journey manifest in exterior space in which the immanent and the transcendent together form a complex spiritual and travel phenomenon (p. 220). Amos Ron: Department of Tourism and Hospitality Studies, Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee, Israel. Email <amosron2@netvision.net.il>

REFERENCES
Reader, I. and T. Walter, eds. 1993 Pilgrimage in Popular Culture. Basingstoke Hampshire: Macmillan Press. Vukonic, B. 1996 Tourism and Religion. Oxford: Pergamon.

Assigned 18 May 2006. Submitted 11 October 2006. Accepted 12 October 2006 doi:10.1016/j.annals.2006.10.007