Cultural Routes are one of the most important tools for the promotion and the interpretation of cultural heritage. They are itineraries designed around a core theme and they include, inter alia, ...monuments of archaeological or historical interest, architectural monuments, industrial heritage buildings, religious heritage edifices, traditional settlements, spiritual places. In Japan, one of the most important routes, in Kii Mountain Range, is the Kumano Kodo religious-cultural route. The route reflects the merging of the ancient worship of nature – which is believed to be inhabited by Gods or spirits - Shintoism and Buddhism. The route, due to its great importance, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004 and was the second to be named after the Santiago de Compostela Route (1987). Both religious-cultural routes have started a close collaborative partnership, in order to enhance visibility and attract visitors, by twining the cities of Santiago de Compostela and Tanabe and awarding a ‘Dual pilgrim status’. ?his article is an attempt to describe and explain the innovative ways of harnessing cultural, religious, and natural heritage in Kumano Kodo and the results to the local community. Both routes are followed not only by pilgrims but also by tourists who want to experience nature, local traditions, and customs. The region in the Kii mountains is promoted as a destination for pilgrims, religious tourists and generally for tourists who wish to walk around in a unique natural environment, to enjoy the hot springs, to engage in sports, to visit neighbouring beaches, to attend festivals, to visit temples and cultural venues etc. All those who travel on the route, are still known as ‘pilgrims’. A question therefore arises whether the use of the term ‘Dual pilgrim’ is accurate, as those who follow the path cannot be faithful to both religions.
The coming of post-secular society has opened up interesting transdisciplinary research and perspectives. Research and academic debates on the post-secular have yet to make inroads into the ...discipline of tourism studies, which is ironic since there is an intrinsic religiosity to tourism. We table that tourism lies at the core of the post-secular turn and should be studied as such. Likewise, academic debate on post-secularism has not accorded tourism its proper due. This study has two objectives. First, to fill the research gap in studies of tourism and post-secularism and, second, to show that post-secular tourism is one of the key spaces where the post-secular is articulated. This article is based on interviews of pilgrims in the Galicia region (Spain) conducted in 2011, 2012 and 2014. Four major attributes of post-secular tourism were identified: (self-)reflexivity, quest for ontological security, heterodoxy and topos-disloyalty. Our findings indicate that the post-secular tourist transcends conventional dichotomies between religious pilgrimage and tourism, journeying as affirmation of denominational faith and pure leisure. Post-secular tourism is about ontogenesis, that is, it is performative rather than injunctive. It is in this sense that one can speak of post-secular tourism as something open, unfolding and in constant becoming.
The routes to Compostela offer an opportunity for territorial development which some local actors have managed to catch. This article offers to evaluate the elements of territorial differentiation ...that can explain the captation or non-captation of the opportunity that these routes represent in the south-west of France. Indeed, the survey carried out on the five routes of Compostela made it possible to constitute a research material based on a quality approach centred on four categories of actors who participate in the life of the routes and who observe these daily circulations. These elements of differentiation constitute an analysis grid of territorial dynamics which can be observed in rural areas around the revitalization of routes to Compostela.
Los Caminos de Santiago de Compostela ofrecen una oportunidad de desarrollo territorial que algunos actores locales han logrado aprovechar. Este artículo propone evaluar los elementos de diferenciación territorial que pueden explicar el aprovechamiento o no de esa oportunidad que representan estos caminos en el suroeste de Francia. En efecto, el estudio de campo realizado en las cinco grandes vías compostelanas en Francia ha permitido constituir un material de investigación a partir de un enfoque cualitativo centrado en cuatro categorías de actores que participan en la vida de estos caminos y que observan diariamente estas circulaciones. Estos elementos de diferenciación constituyen un marco analítico de las dinámicas territoriales observadas en el espacio rural en torno a la revitalización de los caminos hacia Santiago de Compostela.
Les chemins vers Compostelle offrent une opportunité de développement territorial dont certains acteurs locaux ont réussi à se saisir. Cet article propose d’évaluer les éléments de différenciation territoriale qui peuvent expliquer la captation ou non-captation de l’opportunité que représentent ces chemins dans le sud-ouest de la France. En effet, l’enquête de terrain réalisée sur les cinq grandes voies jacquaires a permis de constituer un matériau de recherche à partir d’une approche qualitative centrée sur quatre catégories d’acteurs qui participent à la vie des chemins et qui observent quotidiennement ces circulations. Ces éléments de différenciation constituent une grille d’analyse des dynamiques territoriales observables en espace rural autour de la revitalisation des chemins vers Compostelle.
This article focuses upon a specific aspect of the revival of pilgrimage in Europe, the replication of the Camino de Santiago. The Camino has become regarded increasingly as 'prototypical' ...pilgrimage, particularly by those previously largely unfamiliar with pilgrimage, and copied in contexts far from Spain. This tendency towards the importation, re-conceptualisation and (to varying degrees) replication of the Camino in the pilgrims' native countries has led to the revival of ancient pilgrimage routes as well as the development of new ones. 'Caminoisation' thus refers to the process of introducing aspects of the Camino pilgrimage to other routes and pilgrimage sites. Among the main features of Caminoisation are the ideas that 'real' pilgrimage is done on foot and that the journey is more important than the destination. In addition, the material culture of the Camino is spreading, including pilgrim passports and Compostela-like certificates, as are ritual activities such as pilgrim blessings. Based on our AHRC funded project on Pilgrimage and England's Cathedrals, Past and Present, (PEC) we examine the growth and variety of pilgrimage activities in the post-Reformation, Anglican contexts of Canterbury Cathedral, York Minster and Durham Cathedral. We explore the renegotiation of pilgrimage, the localisation of Camino features in traditionally Protestant contexts and the implications of Caminoisation for the Anglican Cathedrals studied within the broader milieu of the heritagisation of religion and the spiritualisation of heritage in Europe.
It is a worldwide well-known fact that gastronomic tourism does not always contribute to the cultural, social, economic, and territorial development of the host community. Therefore, its study ...requires a multidisciplinary and holistic approach to explore and interpret this phenomenon. From this perspective, the paper analyses the consumption of food products by tourists in Santiago de Compostela in Spain (2013–2014). Personal interviews (2081) with visitors and food industry establishment representatives were done. Compared with the normal food consumption of the Galician population, the food production capacity established by the corresponding Santiago foodshed calculation, and with the gastronomy official advertising (tourism web pages analysed by multimodal analysis), the gastronomic tourist experience is standardized and poor, limited to practically two products: rice with lobster, and octopus. This standardization supposes a high reduction in the diversity of the product that can be offered and produced in terms of proximity, and its territorial differentiation, comparing to the usual consumption of the Galician population, to the potential agricultural production by associated foodshed, and to the gastronomic advertising through official web pages. Thus, in this case, gastronomic tourism is not contributing to the social, economic, and territorial development of the host community or, ultimately, to the sustainability of tourism.
La ritualización de la sociedad medieval alcanza su culmen en los procesos públicos de transmisión de derechos, desempeños y funciones. En ellos objetos, gestos y sonidos transmiten un sentido ...profundo en la significación que adquieren como elemento simbólico perfectamente interpretable por la población en general. Estas situaciones se hacen especialmente patentes en las tomas de posesión, tanto en la transmisión de bienes como en la asunción de la cura de almas en un beneficio. El presente artículo profundiza en el sentido gestual y simbólico del proceso de toma de posesión de beneficios eclesiásticos sobre el espacio homogéneo de la diócesis de Santiago de Compostela en el siglo XV. Empleamos para ello fuentes principalmente inéditas que nos permiten objetivar el proceso y estudiar sus partes, con especial atención al papel jugado por objetos (libros, vestimentas y cálices), sonidos (campanas) y gestos (camino por el templo o celebración de oficio).
As an economic, social, and cultural activity, tourism shapes the relationship between visitors and local communities in tourist destinations. While tourism generates economic growth and employment ...opportunities for residents, its benefits come with a social cost. This article highlights the results of an online survey that was carried out at the beginning of 2021 in the seven major Galician cities along the Route of Santiago de Compostela (the Way of St. James) in Spain, which is a historical, natural, and cultural tourist attraction that is inscribed in the UNESCO’s World Heritage List in the category of cultural assets. The goal of the research work was to get to know first-hand the opinion of local communities about the positive and negative effects of tourism in their cities, on the Route of Santiago, and in the region of Galicia as a whole. Research work shows that residents’ perception of tourism leans toward the positive side, although it also reveals the need for tourism planners to involve host communities in tourism development. This research study about a World Heritage site should prove useful for political decision makers, tourism planners, and experts, both in Galicia and elsewhere.
Each year thousands of men and women from more than sixty countries journey by foot and bicycle across northern Spain, following the medieval pilgrimage road known as the Camino de Santiago. Their ...destination is Santiago de Compostela, where the remains of the apostle James are said to be buried. These modern-day pilgrims and the role of the pilgrimage in their lives are the subject of Nancy Louise Frey's fascinating book. Unlike the religiously-oriented pilgrims who visit Marian shrines such as Lourdes, the modern Road of St. James attracts an ecumenical mix of largely well-educated, urban middle-class participants. Eschewing comfortable methods of travel, they choose physically demanding journeys, some as long as four months, in order to experience nature, enjoy cultural and historical patrimony, renew faith, or cope with personal trauma. Frey's anthropological study focuses on the remarkable reanimation of the Road that has gained momentum since the 1980s. Her intensive fieldwork (including making the pilgrimage several times herself) provides a colorful portrayal of the pilgrimage while revealing a spectrum of hopes, discontents, and desires among its participants, many of whom feel estranged from society. The Camino's physical and mental journey offers them closer community, greater personal knowledge, and links to the past and to nature. But what happens when pilgrims return home? Exploring this crucial question Frey finds that pilgrims often reflect deeply on their lives and some make significant changes: an artistic voice is discovered, a marriage is ended, meaningful work is found. Other pilgrims repeat the pilgrimage or join a pilgrims' association to keep their connection to the Camino alive. And some only remain pilgrims while on the road. In all, Pilgrim Stories is an exceptional prism through which to understand the desires and dissatisfactions of contemporary Western life at the end of the millennium. "Feet are touched, discussed, massaged, and become signs of a journey well traveled: 'I did it all on foot!' . . . Pilgrims give feet a power and importance not recognized in daily life, as a causeway and direct channel to the road, the past, meaningful relations, nature, and the self."
Tourism has a leading role in heritage cities and this implies a major challenge. The overall objective of this paper is to evaluate the performance of tourism planning and management with the view ...of achieving sustainable tourism in the historic center of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The study addresses topics collected during a long research process of more than 10 years, such as strategic tourism plans, the implementation of quality management systems for tourism, the tourist supply and the regulation of flows. The results show a destination that has introduced alternatives to improve the tourism experience and diversify its offer beyond the Camino de Santiago. There is also growing concern in promoting the sustainability of the historic center. From our point of view, the strengthening of synergies between the different agents involved in the tourism sector of the city has been a key factor in dealing with this situation. However, in this sense, the main problem which is decongesting the tourist flows to the cathedral and its surroundings is still unresolved.
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