Religious tourism – a review of the literature

Abstract

Purpose Given the growing importance of religious tourism, the purpose of this paper is to present a review of the literature around the area. Design/methodology/approach All papers with the term “religious tourism” have been searched via Emerald Insight from January 2006 to December 2017. The search was run in June 2017 for the last time and all early cite papers falling under the criteria were also included. This has ensured that key literature produced after the seminal work by Timothy and Olsen (Eds) (2006) has been reviewed. Certain exclusions apply which have been listed in the paper. Findings Key themes from the literature on religious tourism along with new developments and overlaps with other tourism sectors have been highlighted. Originality/value This paper reviews literature spanning more than a decade on religious tourism.