Identifying Elements That Facilitate Pilgrims’ Transformative Experience
Year: 2024
Type: other
Abstract: Pilgrimages have experience increased popularity among tourists worldwide during the past couple decades. Despite the growing research on pilgrimage over years and that transformation was noted as a theme long proclaimed in the pilgrimage literature, a holistic concept regarding the pilgrimage elements that facilitate the transformation is much needed. A review of the literature revealed eight elements that may elicit transformation: religion/spirituality, long-distance walking, community, challenge, simplicity, being in nature, art/history/culture, and multiculturalism. To identify the underlying construct of these inter-related elements in fostering transformation, American pilgrims who had recently visited Camino de Santiago – the world’s most well-known Christian pilgrimage, were surveyed (n=1,588) and examined using exploratory factor analysis. Five factors were identified: 1) internal freedom, 2) independence, 3) community, 4) art, history, and culture, and 5) religion, which is consistent with the self-determination theory. This study enhances the understanding of pilgrims’ transformative experiences on the Camino.
DOI: 10.7275/54974
Author: Connie Johnmeyer
Language: English
Topic: Religious Tourism and Spaces
Subfield: Geography, Planning and Development
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6940300758
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