Fatemeh Zargaran Khouzani; Atieh Shahjafari; Mohammad Hamid Mollaei
Abstract
Introduction
Tourism and religion have always been inextricably linked, with religion as one of the most common travel motives. One of the oldest forms of travel in the world, the religiously motivated travel is currently considered an emerging part of the tourism industry. Although tourism has become ...
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Introduction
Tourism and religion have always been inextricably linked, with religion as one of the most common travel motives. One of the oldest forms of travel in the world, the religiously motivated travel is currently considered an emerging part of the tourism industry. Although tourism has become popular in religious places around the world, there are few studies on the mental patterns of the tourists experiencing the religious travel. Given the fact that tourists usually tend to interpret what they experience at the destination and pass it on to others, it is important to devote serious attention to the tourist experiences.
Materials and Methods
As an applied and descriptive research, this study was conducted to identify the mental patterns of the tourists visiting the religious tourism destinations in Mashhad. Q-methodology was used to identify the mental patterns in the statistical population of the tourists who had the experience of traveling to the holy city of Mashhad at least once. Relying on the purposeful sampling method, the study selected 25 participants for data collection. The data was analyzed by Q factor analysis with SPSS 22.0 Software.
Results and Discussion
The analysis resulted in a typology which consists of seven mental patterns concerning the meaning of religious tourism. They are: 1) spiritualists, 2) pacifists, 3) affiliationists, 4) liberationists, 5) seekers, 6) subjectivists, and 7) empiricists. For spiritualists, getting closer to God and realizing spirituality were found to be the most important motivations to travel to religious destinations. Seeking to get rid of daily life’s grind and pressures, pacifists hope that religious trips will help them attain the peace that does not exist in the normal life. The priority given to the religious tourism by pacifists is understood given the fact relaxation is an important dimension of religious tourism. Affiliationists, or those who seek a sense of belonging, were found to be interested in communicating everywhere, often traveling with friends and family—and religious tourism is no exception. These tourists do not get upset by the crowds or the long queues to see and receive something. However, the overcrowding is desirable as long as it does not distract them from the main issue of pilgrimage or tourism in religious areas. Liberationists are similar to pacifists, except that they prefer to avoid stress by engaging in things other than religious pursuits. Therefore, liberationists certainly have no religious motive. Motivated by their religious journey, seekers search for real knowledge and information about topics and things they already know. Subjectivists look for everything, be it peace, get-togethers, or communication. Therefore, they will probably need more time to achieve all their goals in the tourist destination. Finally, empiricists were found to be looking for new tourist experiences, or anything that brings them an enjoyable experience.
Conclusion
The study went on to interpret the identified mental patterns. Spiritualists searching for closeness to God and pacifists in search of avoiding the stress of daily life were the most frequent mental patterns observed among the tourists with the experience of religious tourism. Moreover, it was found that the number of empiricists, who are looking for engaging experiences in tourist destinations, is also growing. The innovation of this research lies in its attempt at the classification of tourists and the religious tourism market based on mental patterns, which can be used to develop tourism programs. The mental patterns identified in this study can be used as the basis for the development of religious tourism and the formulation of strategies for marketing religious tourism. Concerning the needs of religious tourism places, advertising is of utmost importance as it plays an essential role in getting tourists to choose religious tourism. The analysis and findings of the research are limited to the mental patterns of the participants and the creation of the Q category. It is suggested that future research use in-depth interviews to achieve a more accurate understanding of the topic. The descriptive and survey research design can also be fruitful to investigate the identified patterns. Another direction for future research is to use Q-methodology for other types of religious tourism.
