Daniel H. Olsen
Abstract
Many people travel in search of life-altering experiences, which, in the form of epiphanies, lead to a profound and positive transformation in their daily lives. This paper focuses on the intersections of religion, spirituality, and wellness, and how similar experiences in these areas can be interpreted ...
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Many people travel in search of life-altering experiences, which, in the form of epiphanies, lead to a profound and positive transformation in their daily lives. This paper focuses on the intersections of religion, spirituality, and wellness, and how similar experiences in these areas can be interpreted through viewing people through the lens of the human “soul”. After briefly defining religion, spirituality, and wellness, attention is turned to the medicalization of religion and spirituality in the form on wellness. The relationships between the soul, spiritual health, and travel are then briefly discussed before concluding.
Sayed Mahdi Rahmati; Mojtaba Rajabi
Abstract
Pilgrimage can be considered as one of the oldest manifestations of religious tourism history and it is coupled with the formation of religions among human beings. On the one hand, the shrines of the religious personalities enjoy a special place in religious convergence, and on the other hand, it is ...
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Pilgrimage can be considered as one of the oldest manifestations of religious tourism history and it is coupled with the formation of religions among human beings. On the one hand, the shrines of the religious personalities enjoy a special place in religious convergence, and on the other hand, it is considered a suitable platform for cultural and spiritual awareness among pilgrims. Nowadays, proper management of pilgrimage and recognition of the capacity to convert these centers into cultural hubs of the country, especially with the geographical distribution of their influence, is very important. Accordingly, it is necessary to describe and analyze religious propositions and pay attention to the potential facilities and talents of religious tourism. This research uses the descriptive-analytical method based on library documents to investigate the impact of pilgrimage institutions as an effective mechanism on spirituality and cultural life.
Melanie Smith; Robert Kiss; Inge Yan Fong Chan
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to explore young people’s perceptions of spirituality as well as analyzing the role that spirituality plays in their wellness and travel. The work builds on previous studies that examined young peoples’ attitudes to spirituality, as well as research that examined ...
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The aim of this paper is to explore young people’s perceptions of spirituality as well as analyzing the role that spirituality plays in their wellness and travel. The work builds on previous studies that examined young peoples’ attitudes to spirituality, as well as research that examined cross-cultural differences in understandings of spirituality. The research draws on questionnaire data (a sample of 227) that was collected in two languages from young people in Generations Y and Z aged 18-39. The questionnaire was designed in English but was also translated into Mandarin Chinese. Both generations and cultural/language groups view spirituality as more connected to the self or nature than to religion or God. Attention to religion and spirituality scored much lower than other lifestyle and wellness domains. When travelling, the desire to engage in religious and spiritual activities were also ranked low compared to other activities. The data shows that young people tend to define spirituality more in relation to their own self and nature than to religion. Spirituality is ranked relatively low compared to other domains of wellness. However, although religious and spiritual motivations and benefits are ranked lower than some other experiences during travel, many young people prioritize trips that involve better connections to nature and the self, which reflects their original definitions of spirituality.
Manoochehr Jahanian
Abstract
Tourism covers all the visitor's activity from the beginning to the end of the trip. It is a journey made for business, experience, relaxation, pleasure and learning. This trip can be rooted in the beliefs and culture of the tourist and based his values. In this case, tourism activities can change the ...
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Tourism covers all the visitor's activity from the beginning to the end of the trip. It is a journey made for business, experience, relaxation, pleasure and learning. This trip can be rooted in the beliefs and culture of the tourist and based his values. In this case, tourism activities can change the worldview by increasing the tourist's knowledege of visiting nature and heritage. According to most psychologists, not paying attention to mental needs endangers the physical health of community members. Strengthening the positive spiritual dimensions by traveling to religious and pilgrimage sites can mainly meet these significant human needs. The present research is based on descriptive study and library documents. The purpose is to describe the relationship between tourism, religion and spirituality. The results of this study show tourism could be based on the divine worldview. It can also be associated with spirituality and the acquisition of morality and lessons. Based on this, it can be said that tourism activity is based on spirituality.
Seyed Mehdi Hosseini; Aliasghar Davodi
Abstract
Hajj pilgrimage is one of the divine duties that is held every year by pilgrims. In addition to the jurisprudential issues of Hajj, the pilgrimage of Hajj has many individual, social, and political effects. This pilgrimage provides an opportunity for the pilgrims to gain spirituality. Anther role of ...
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Hajj pilgrimage is one of the divine duties that is held every year by pilgrims. In addition to the jurisprudential issues of Hajj, the pilgrimage of Hajj has many individual, social, and political effects. This pilgrimage provides an opportunity for the pilgrims to gain spirituality. Anther role of Hajj is to create a platform for Muslims around the world to get to know each other. Professor Morteza Motahhari, as an Islamic thinker, believes that Hajj pilgrimage has great potentials for creating spirituality among Muslim societies. There is an international place (Kaaba) that belongs to all the believers of the world and also the same religious identity of the pilgrims of this holy house and some of the practices of this pilgrimage have the capacity to create real unity among Muslims. This research tries to study the role and position of Hajj pilgrimage in Professor Morteza Motahhari's thoughts by descriptive-analytical method and review the capacities of Hajj pilgrimage in creating spirituality from the perspective of Professor Morteza Motahhari.
Yazdan Shirmohammadi; Zeinab Hashemi Baghi
Abstract
Literary tourism is a sort of cultural tourism that deals with places and occasions from fictional texts and the lives of their authors. This might be related to a novel or a writer, such as going to a poet's grave. Literary tourism is, in fact, a kind of Tourism that adds to the knowledge and information ...
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Literary tourism is a sort of cultural tourism that deals with places and occasions from fictional texts and the lives of their authors. This might be related to a novel or a writer, such as going to a poet's grave. Literary tourism is, in fact, a kind of Tourism that adds to the knowledge and information of tourists and is a kind of combination of entertainment and education helping a lot to know more about society and culture as well as helping nations and cultures becoming closer and closer to each other at the international level. The present study is applied and descriptive survey research in terms of purpose and method, respectively. The statistical population of the study is literary tourists includes the city of Shiraz. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS and AMOS software programs, and a regression method was exerted to test the path analysis of hypotheses. Findings of this study indicate that literary tourism has a positive, significant effect on increasing re-visit tourism destination through the originality of the tourism destination brand, brand love, attachment, nostalgia, and loyalty of attitude and action.
Fatemeh Yavarigohar; Fereshteh Mansourimoayyed; Mehdi Karoubi
Abstract
Today, we confront forces bringing spiritual and ethical values into business which have together has a meaningful concept for each business. Nowadays, the growing attention to ethical issues in workplaces has caused the organizations tend to set ethical codes. However, the results of recent studies ...
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Today, we confront forces bringing spiritual and ethical values into business which have together has a meaningful concept for each business. Nowadays, the growing attention to ethical issues in workplaces has caused the organizations tend to set ethical codes. However, the results of recent studies show that the ethical organizations will obtain more benefits over a long period and will gain better financial and non-financial performance. So this issue has caused the ethical values of organization be an important part of the organization’s culture. Beside this, ethical issues have always been a noteworthy topic in tourism concepts. Therefore, the present research has examined the effect of ethical values and empathy on nonfinancial performance of tour operators in Tehran through the organizational commitment. The statistical population is composed of employees of tour operators and data were collected by the standard questionnaires. Results show that ethical values and empathy in workplace have a positive and significant effect on organizational commitment and following that non-financial performance of organization.
Mohammad Hossein Imani Khoshkhoo; Richard Sharpley; Mahdieh shahrabi farahani
Abstract
Human beings take a step in the path of discovery and searching the universe. Meanwhile, travel is one of the means of searching wisdom and experience for communicating with the land, nature and the world’s creator, as well as finding meaning and concept of life. Therefore, humans understand travel ...
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Human beings take a step in the path of discovery and searching the universe. Meanwhile, travel is one of the means of searching wisdom and experience for communicating with the land, nature and the world’s creator, as well as finding meaning and concept of life. Therefore, humans understand travel as a source of perception and take benefits from it for recognizing themselves and the universe. The term "spiritual perception" is defined as a way for understanding and interpreting all non-material affairs related to the origin of human soul which has been investigated in this research. In this regarda qualitative-quantitative method has been applied in which the spiritual perception factors were obtained by using concept analysis method after conducting deep interviews with experts. Four factors of human hypothesis, spiritual truth, outward truth and human interaction were considered. Study population consisted of foreign cultural tourists travelling to the City of Isfahan from March to June 2018. Gathered data was analyzed by using structural equation and Smart PLS. The results showed that all the hypotheses of research were confirmed and there were meaningful relationships among tourists' spiritual perception and mentioned factors.
Ali Asghar Shalbafian; Neda Zarandian
Abstract
Spirituality in the present world has surpassed different geographical, racial, religious, gender, and etc. boundaries. The issue has emerged under such different titles as religion, originality, the meaning of life, etc., and raised a number of debates. The enthusiasm in seeking meaning has been manifested ...
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Spirituality in the present world has surpassed different geographical, racial, religious, gender, and etc. boundaries. The issue has emerged under such different titles as religion, originality, the meaning of life, etc., and raised a number of debates. The enthusiasm in seeking meaning has been manifested in various fields including tourism as much as the journey is sometimes interpreted seeking for meaning. However, it is yet unclear how the two areas are linked together in different tourism approaches and branches. Volunteer tourism, among these, is known as one of the increasingly prevalent approaches to various forms of tourism. In this regard, the present research intends to find the relationship between volunteer tourism approach and spirituality highlighting literature review. Then, relying on practically available pieces of evidence, spiritual effects of Iranian Pro-poor tourism (Travel of Iranian volunteers to deprived areas) is reviewed and emphasized on volunteer tourists as an Islamic-Iranian voluntary traveling model.
Mohammad Reza Fathi; Mohammad Hasan Maleki; Mohammadreza Boroomand; Can Deniz Koksal
Abstract
The purpose of the present study is to identify and prioritize spiritual-based tourism strategies in Qom province. The present study is interpretive from the philosophical foundations point of view and is applied from the point of view of orientation. It is also a survey in terms of data collection and ...
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The purpose of the present study is to identify and prioritize spiritual-based tourism strategies in Qom province. The present study is interpretive from the philosophical foundations point of view and is applied from the point of view of orientation. It is also a survey in terms of data collection and from a methodological point of view, it is qualitative. The statistical population of the study is the experts and managers in the field of tourism and the sampling method is judgmental. 10 experts were selected from among the samples. In order to carry out the research, internal and external factors affecting the spiritual-based tourism in Qom province were identified through reviewing the literature and interviewing experts. After the internal and external factors were screened, 15 internal and 14 external factors remained. In addition, the nature of internal and external factors was identified in terms of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and the most effective factors were determined by using the DEMATEL technique for preparing the SWOT table. With identifying the final list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, strategies were prioritized from the perspective of research experts by ARAS method. Three strategies to support provincial headquarters, banks and entrepreneurship funds from web-based tourism businesses and social networks, defining research priorities of tourism-related organizations based on civil society support, and strengthening training programs to justify diversity in the community and its benefits had the highest priority.
AHMAD PUAD MAT SOM
Abstract
When deliberating on the spiritual dimension of tourism, one key question is that how individuals are seeking for their life meaning and experiences of divine existence, as well as their connectedness as subjectively lived during their travel. In fact, tourism is closely connected to religion which ...
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When deliberating on the spiritual dimension of tourism, one key question is that how individuals are seeking for their life meaning and experiences of divine existence, as well as their connectedness as subjectively lived during their travel. In fact, tourism is closely connected to religion which has always been a powerful travel motivation from the time of early pilgrimages to contemporary journeys to sacred places. Religious sites, rituals, festivals and ceremonies are considered important attractions for both religious followers with special systems of belief and tourists with a casual interest. Perhaps, this characteristic of the tourism experience is the main reason for spiritual tourism experiences being recently popular among individuals who have started engaging in spiritualitydriven experiences and among persons aiming to develop their continuing sublime engagement by means of travel. There are various reasons for travelling for spiritual growth which is opposed to the traditional notions of pilgrimage and religious tourism. However, relatively few scholars have explored the multitudinous relationships between religion, spirituality, and sustainable tourism, despite the pervasiveness of religious tourism and spiritual connections to place. A subject that has received only scant attention in the literature is the negative social and ecological impacts of religious (mass) tourism. Several authors have noted the negative impacts of religious tourism on the commercialization of places and artifacts that were once held as sacred locations. The commodification of religious symbols and the economic implications of selling them should become of increased interest to researchers as the world becomes more consumption-oriented.
Mehrnoosh Bastenegar; Ali Hassani
Abstract
By producing the paradigm of creative tourism, the knowledge increasing discipline of tourism invites tourists to visit and interact with the unique and live culture of societies instead of just sightseeing in museums and ancient monuments. In this paradigm, tourists engage all of their senses in the ...
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By producing the paradigm of creative tourism, the knowledge increasing discipline of tourism invites tourists to visit and interact with the unique and live culture of societies instead of just sightseeing in museums and ancient monuments. In this paradigm, tourists engage all of their senses in the creation of their unique experience and improving their relations with local people from seller/buyer to a master/apprentice level. Not only the cultural capital but also the social capital would be increased from this interaction. The main goal of this research is to show that, contrary to what appears at first, the creative domain of gastronomy is a spiritual one and flourishing local communities and creative tourism based on this paradigm can evolve the wellbeing and material life of inhabitants and tourists as well. Moreover, this includes significant spiritual endowments both for guests and hosts in the creative gastronomic destinations. Creative tourism based on gastronomy regards new looks to local communities as the first step in creating unique and added value experiences including economic, human, and social values. In creative tourism, locals and tourists will open their eyes on the destination in completely new ways, so that they could see better in creating new and valuable experiences. This definition is closely related to the Quranic command of “The man must consider what he eats”. In this research, using thematic analysis and Delphi method, it is shown that the components of spiritual perception have significant overlaps with the components of gastronomic creative tourism. Factors such as “comfort and satisfaction”, “Giving meaning to life”, “interaction with others”, “friendship with nature and environment”, and “surrender and thanksgiving “, as the components of the spiritual understanding, showed common and undeniable spaces with the components of creative tourism. These components include “authentic experiences “, “active participation “, “learning”, “self-esteem and self-awareness”, “new products and processes”, and “new spaces”. Based on our results, each of these components has their own proprietary domains and non-negligible common spaces, and even in some cases are subsets of each other.
Kamal sorayyaArdakani; Fahimeh Soleimanabadi
Abstract
Studying the concept of spirituality in tourism is neithera newapproach nor a study of a particular kind of tourism or simply a religious perspective to tourism. Rather, it is an indicator of spiritual contents that today’s tourism is submerged into discover and attain non-material values and the ...
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Studying the concept of spirituality in tourism is neithera newapproach nor a study of a particular kind of tourism or simply a religious perspective to tourism. Rather, it is an indicator of spiritual contents that today’s tourism is submerged into discover and attain non-material values and the reality duringthe length of its journey. This research offers a new perspective in the study of the methodology of tourism studies with a descriptive-analytical approach, conjunctive viewwhile using library documentation and a review of theoretical foundations according to the fuzzylogicmethodology. The fuzzy logictheory possesses a more precise capacity to explain and analyze concepts and phenomena and also a spectral reading of phenomena thatuses the binary numbers of 0 and 1 as the extreme points of reality and accepts that there are infinite points of reality between the two of them; therefore, in order to more precisely and comprehensively understand reality, one must have a hierarchical view towardthephenomena. With this approach, spirituality in tourism includes a great variety of concepts and elementsthat are allambiguous and graded. These elements include reasoning and probing, religious denomination and beliefs, mutual relations, and quality of life and culture. The propositions of spirituality in tourism essentially exist in bothfuzzy and spectral logic,not justwith fuzzy logic because of the essential ambiguity existingin concepts and elements andtheir metaphysical aspects. Therefore, this study is built upon the studies related to spiritualityin tourismconducted through the fuzzy logicmethodologies. According to the obtainedresults, this important approach must be paid attention so that the great capacities of spirituality in tourism in the areas of knowledge and action can be correctly utilized.
Reza Aghapour; Seyed Ali Akbar Rabi Nattaj; Seyed Mohsen Mousavi
Abstract
Human beings are constantly active to live their everyday life. They spend long hours of their life on working and activity in closed and confined environments. That along with urbanization, mental and psychological traumas and physical harms has led some to think about leisure time and its significance ...
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Human beings are constantly active to live their everyday life. They spend long hours of their life on working and activity in closed and confined environments. That along with urbanization, mental and psychological traumas and physical harms has led some to think about leisure time and its significance in their life. Meantime, various schools of thought and ideologies attach great significance to leisure time. Islam also recognizes the necessity of tourism, as a prescribed form of leisure time, at individual and social life. In this regard, tourism with a spiritual approach is followed by an intellectual upgrade and spiritual evolution of humans, leading to intellectual and spiritual enrichment. This study has been conducted to examine the status of leisure time and tourism in the holy Quran and hadiths. This descriptive-analytical research, which is based on Quranic verses and hadiths frequently narrated in authenticated books, aims to examine various aspects of leisure time and tourism in the Quran and hadiths. The findings of this research show that Islam views leisure time as a moral issue. Relying on the Quranic verses and hadiths, tourism may be divided into halal (permissible), makrouh (non- recommended) and haram (strictly forbidden). Quranically tourism with a spiritual approach brings about serenity, durability and blessings while being faith-based and beyond gender division.
Mehrab Sadeghnia; Hamideh Amiryazdani
Abstract
The main motivations behind creative tourism, as a new form of tourism in the postmodern world, consist in achieving a new understanding of the “self” and the pursuit of “meaning,” “identity,” and “authenticity,” which have transformed the paradigm of tourism. ...
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The main motivations behind creative tourism, as a new form of tourism in the postmodern world, consist in achieving a new understanding of the “self” and the pursuit of “meaning,” “identity,” and “authenticity,” which have transformed the paradigm of tourism. With the development of the phenomenon of “spiritualism” in our time in which people turn away from the religion as a predetermined and organized phenomenon, in these new styles, the criterion is not to discover the religious other; it is to discover the self in the other. In this paper, we introduce the essential difference between creative tourism as an instance of postmodern tourism and cultural tourism, and we will examine the component of spirituality in creative tourism, and then elaborate the former as an opportunity for the development and understanding of religious beliefs and a ground for the creativity of the religious culture. Using historical-hermeneutical approach, this paper examines the concept of "spirituality" in lived travel experience of a creative tourists and argues that when discussing spirituality of tourism, one potential avenue is flourishment of religious creativity. A key objective of this paper therefore, is to provide an initial mapping of, and insights into this territory.
Mohammad Aghazadeh
Abstract
As one of the richest intellectual domains of mankind, Islamic culture has played a prominent role in the formation of diverse dimensions of Islamic community. In this regard, the rich Islamic art, which is intermixed with the elegance of Islamic architecture, is regarded as one of the aspects of Towhid ...
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As one of the richest intellectual domains of mankind, Islamic culture has played a prominent role in the formation of diverse dimensions of Islamic community. In this regard, the rich Islamic art, which is intermixed with the elegance of Islamic architecture, is regarded as one of the aspects of Towhid (belief in the oneness of God) and divine worldview. Since the mankind is not a single-dimensional creature, and is innately inclined to beauty and innovation, architects have sought to create an original work imbued with spiritual meanings and themes within a material realm through reliance on their experience, thoughts, individual creativity as well as an aesthetic spirit on one hand, and the manifestation of spirituality and other notions on the other. The contemporary human, by setting out on journey on the earth, has made an attempt to seek knowledge and awareness, and Islamic architecture is considered as an epiphany of human nature as well as a manifestation of contemplation and existence in the depth of human spirit, which is believed to be one of the most significant elements of tourism. The present research is aimed at exploring the conceptual symbols in Islamic architecture originating from Islamic worldview, as the rich Islamic principles have inspired Muslim architects, whose thoughts and environment have been influenced by Islamic worldview. The present article has been written adopting a descriptive-analytical method. The results indicate that architectural elements in Iran have not been created without taking Islamic ideology and concepts into account, but rather all the elements applied are endowed with spirituality and divine symbols.
Mohammad Hossein Imani Khoshkhoo; Mahdieh Shahrabi Farahani
Abstract
Religion is the core and key element of human life and as a travel organizer, it has played an important role in human life from the past to the present. The essence of a human being has been founded based on the primordial nature and spiritual dimension, which is not merely composed of material dimensions ...
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Religion is the core and key element of human life and as a travel organizer, it has played an important role in human life from the past to the present. The essence of a human being has been founded based on the primordial nature and spiritual dimension, which is not merely composed of material dimensions and, possibly, its existential spiritual dimension is a key element of humanity. Therefore, spirituality as a type of psychological quality -that is beyond religious beliefs and motivates man and creates feelings such as understanding divine solemnity and respect for creation in a human being- is an important factor in recognizing the nature of man in the perspective of monotheistic religions. This research was done by means of a qualitative-descriptive method, in the form of library studies and field interviews in two sections besides the content analysis method. In the fall and winter of 2017, an in-depth and semi-structured interview was conducted with 60 professors, experts and scholars of Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam religions in three parts: defining the concept of spirituality, the place of travel in these religions, and the relationship between spirituality and travel. The results of the comparative studies show that spirituality is based on the human being's existential nature and its natural, spiritual, and immaterial dimension in order to help human beings to fulfill the purpose of creation as mentioned in monotheistic religions. In the meantime, human beings travel, especially do pilgrimages, as one of the sources of knowledge.
mostafa mazaheri
Abstract
One of the ways to consolidate peace and friendship despite the remarkable progress of humanity, is tourism and spirituality. Tourism can change the tourists’ worldview and attitude by increasing their knowledge from visiting the landscapes of nature, geographical locations and legacy of the ancients, ...
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One of the ways to consolidate peace and friendship despite the remarkable progress of humanity, is tourism and spirituality. Tourism can change the tourists’ worldview and attitude by increasing their knowledge from visiting the landscapes of nature, geographical locations and legacy of the ancients, a change in adherence to the principles and values and the Slavery of the unique god. Being combined with peace and friendship, tourism can create a strong friendship and solidarity in the minds of tourists through recognizing the legacy of the past and the recognition of different nations and religions and different ethnicities and cultures. This solidarity and friendship is very important especially in the current and global era due to the problems of community life such as air pollution, psychological problems, cyber threats, social abnormalities. Given this approach and employing the analytical-descriptive method, this paper seeks to answer the following question: How the tourism-related dimension of spirituality can be able to create peace and stability and to strengthen peace and friendship among different societies from a local to the global scale? The findings of the research indicate that in the event of spirituality overcome in the tourist industry and travel of tourists, all activities of the tourist have the capacity to establish peace and cooperate on all scales. And tourism and spirituality for peace and friendship between nations and cultures are a powerful tool and a good platform.
Abdoreza Roknodin Eftekhari; Manoochehr Jahanian; farzaneh khooshebast; Elham Vahedi
Abstract
Search for and gaining the meaning in life and attaining the perfection had been the primordial motive of human creation. The main reason for manifesting vacuum feelings in human is the crisis of lack of spirituality. Nowadays, human beings are seeking to mean of life and are searching for something ...
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Search for and gaining the meaning in life and attaining the perfection had been the primordial motive of human creation. The main reason for manifesting vacuum feelings in human is the crisis of lack of spirituality. Nowadays, human beings are seeking to mean of life and are searching for something more than materiality; because with the modern and advanced technology, the dissatisfaction with life and the sense of daily routine motivates him to discover the cause and the way out of the crisis. Understanding the meaning of life and obtaining satisfaction requires the use of spiritual intelligence and will not be achieved through rational and emotional intelligence solely. In this article, we studied the various dimensions of spiritual intelligence and presented the best model for spiritual intelligence. Then, according to the literature, the impact of tourism on the human was also studied. The results of the content analysis indicate that tourism and travel are effective factors in enhancing the components of spiritual intelligence and, as a result, the promotion of spiritual intelligence, and consequently they will increase the perception of spirituality in life.
Manoochehr Jahanian
Abstract
Supposing that today’s growing range of human needs with the increasing growth of technology is not only limited to material dimensions but non-material aspects are of an undeniable role in the human self-actualization. In this regard, the concept of spirituality dramatically manifests itself in ...
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Supposing that today’s growing range of human needs with the increasing growth of technology is not only limited to material dimensions but non-material aspects are of an undeniable role in the human self-actualization. In this regard, the concept of spirituality dramatically manifests itself in different aspects of human life, even though the technological evolutions and tourism can be an important lever in this area. In this study, using content analysis techniques and using ideas of experts, we assessed the components of ‘styling the future’, ‘tourism’, and ‘spirituality’ comparing elements of these variables such that the relationship between tourism and spirituality was extracted in the form of ‘a sense of excellence’, ‘a sense of meaning’, ‘human values’ and ‘interaction with existence’. Also, the relationship between tourism and futures studies (futurology) was defined using the extracted parameters including ‘consultation prior to social and cultural reforms’, ‘future analysis and alert against challenges’, and ‘determining strategic priorities’. Eventually, in relation to these three components, the obtained results emphasized the need for taking the advantage of spirituality in the study of the tourism industry.
Mohammad Hossein Imani Khoshkhoo; Zahra Nadalipour
Abstract
The objective of this study is to investigate the extent of spirituality in various types of tourism, and to test the hypothesis of the existence of common spiritual experiences among all types of tourists. McKercher's typology of cultural tourists and Norman's (2012) typology of tourists' spiritual ...
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The objective of this study is to investigate the extent of spirituality in various types of tourism, and to test the hypothesis of the existence of common spiritual experiences among all types of tourists. McKercher's typology of cultural tourists and Norman's (2012) typology of tourists' spiritual experiences were applied to classify various groups of spiritual tourists participating in each type of tourism activity. The study population consisted of all individuals who have travelled with the purpose of pilgrimage, recreation, visiting cultural historical attractions, business, visiting religious sites, or participating in ecotourism and nature-based tourism. Sampling was done based on the convenience method according to the size and nature of the target population. Finally, it was concluded that most pilgrims and visitors to the religious sites were purposeful and sightseeing spiritual tourists with a deep intention to search for spiritual growth. Also, among nature-based tourists, ecotourists, business and recreational tourists, and those who had traveled to visit cultural and historical sites, a considerable number were Casual, Incidental and Serendipitous Spiritual Tourists, whilst only a small proportion had purposefully travelled for spiritual growth. Nevertheless, the research indicates the existence of at least one powerful element of spirituality in all types of tourism.
Hamid Zargham Boroujeny
Abstract
Tourism development is considered an important tool in promoting economic growth, alleviating poverty, and advancing spirituality development. This paper aims to review the relationship between tourism and spirituality and to explain how tourism development could contribute to spirituality development ...
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Tourism development is considered an important tool in promoting economic growth, alleviating poverty, and advancing spirituality development. This paper aims to review the relationship between tourism and spirituality and to explain how tourism development could contribute to spirituality development goals. The paper provides an analysis of the relationship between tourism and spirituality development. It explores definitions and constructs of spirituality and reviews experiences and practices in relation to spiritual resources. However, by looking at a brief history of human intelligence we learned that there is a low agreement today upon the spirituality definition. In order to reach a broad agreement, the paper was divided into two sections. The first section explains the importance of tourism and spirituality as components of life success while the second section discusses some important issues regarding the development of spirituality through tourism activities by presenting a model that provides clarification, definition, and relations to the terms of faith, spirituality, religion and tourism. The model can serve as a means to begin the dialogue needed to increase understanding of this important concept. The paper also suggests that the ability to effectively develop tourism can strongly and positively influence spiritual principles and practices.
Richard Sharpley
Abstract
A connection has long existed between tourism and spirituality. More specifically, travel for spiritual purposes has for centuries been a popular manifestation of human mobility. Pilgrimage and other spiritually-motivated travel is widely considered to be one of the earliest forms of tourism and nowadays, ...
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A connection has long existed between tourism and spirituality. More specifically, travel for spiritual purposes has for centuries been a popular manifestation of human mobility. Pilgrimage and other spiritually-motivated travel is widely considered to be one of the earliest forms of tourism and nowadays, religious tourism, in all its forms, has evolved into a major sector of the global tourism market. Over the last three decades, however, an alternative perspective on the tourism-spirituality relationship has emerged. Focusing on the meaning or significance of contemporary tourism, it is argued that tourism is a sacred journey, a secular spiritual experience; in other words, tourism has become a secular alternative to the institution of religion, the contemporary tourist a modern, secular pilgrim. Hence, a conceptual divide exists in the relationship between tourism and spirituality, between spiritual (religious) tourism and tourism as spirituality (religion). Moreover, that divide is evidenced in much of the extant research into tourism, religion and spirituality. As this paper suggests, however, such a conceptual divide over-simplifies the relationship between tourism and spirituality; not only is the distinction between spiritual / religious tourism and tourism as a secular spiritual experience becoming increasing fuzzy – some traditional religious travel experiences, for example, are taking on the aura of commoditised tourism products, with implications for the experience of participants themselves – but also the relationship can be viewed from different disciplinary and theoretical positions. A humanistic perspective, for example, questions the notion of spirituality itself, whilst varying interpretations of religion / spirituality also cast the relationship in different lights. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to explore the complexity of the spiritual dimension of tourism. Reviewing the extant literature, it highlights the dimensions of and limits to research into the relationship between tourism and spirituality and, exploring the phenomenon from a variety of perspectives, challenges contemporary understandings and points to areas demanding further research.
Teimour Marjani; Afsaneh Pourjam
Abstract
Although today it is common to categorize spiritual tourism separately as a type of tourism, spirituality can be found at the heart of any travel. What might be taken as granted is that the tourist is going to add something to his/her self and, in this respect, some degree of spirituality can be sought ...
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Although today it is common to categorize spiritual tourism separately as a type of tourism, spirituality can be found at the heart of any travel. What might be taken as granted is that the tourist is going to add something to his/her self and, in this respect, some degree of spirituality can be sought in every type of tourism. Therefore, through entrepreneurship and innovation it would be possible to focus on the development of businesses which are able to offer some degree of spirituality to tourists according to their needs. This paper seeks to provide a deeper view of the relationship between authentic experiences and spiritual tourism and the role of entrepreneurship in utilizing this relationship in order to enrich tourists’ experiences. In other words, the spiritual dimension of every type of tourism is discussed and the necessity of its reinforcement through entrepreneurship in tourism and a systematic approach towards the issue is considered.
Azilah Kasim
Abstract
In todays’ world of climate change and increasing pollution, the concept of green travel and tourism has been proposed as a possible mitigating solution. However, the pace with which tourists embrace this new concept is slow. It can be argued that the reluctance to embrace is linked to the inability ...
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In todays’ world of climate change and increasing pollution, the concept of green travel and tourism has been proposed as a possible mitigating solution. However, the pace with which tourists embrace this new concept is slow. It can be argued that the reluctance to embrace is linked to the inability to understand the spiritual side of green travel and tourism. It is said that humankind have the tendency separate itself from nature. Nature is considered as ‘others’ and does not merit the same level of respect. Nature is there for humankind’s use and consumption, a thinking that easily leads to abuse and destruction. The same can be applied to tourism. While international travel includes a substantial number of tourists who would consider themselves to be religious and spiritual, it is argued that not many of them will be able to decipher the spiritual aspect of opting for green travel and tourism compared to mass tourism. This paper attempts to demonstrate the close link between green travel and tourism with spirituality. It tends to explain why more people who believe in religion and spirituality should strongly consider the concept in their travel decisions. The hope is to increase public awareness on the spirituality of green travel and tourism so the concept will soon become the order of the day.