Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage in Vâlcea County, South-West Oltenia Region: Motivations, Belief and Tourists’ Perceptions

Abstract

Vâlcea County in the South-West Oltenia Region, Romania, has a great diversity of tourist destinations and boasts an impressive number of monasteries, churches and places of worship. This research aims to comprehensively investigate how tourists perceive the main reasons for visiting religious settlements and the frequency in Vâlcea County, situated in the South-West Oltenia Region, by employing a two-stage methodology to understand the interplay of demographic variables, travel behaviors and individual motivations, while utilizing GIS and SPSS for spatial and quantitative analysis. The two stages are: (1) the analysis of the specialized literature to identify the motivations, beliefs and tourists’ perceptions regarding religious tourism and pilgrimage and (2) statistical analyses and interviews with internal stakeholders (residents), which present their tourist and religious perspective on Vâlcea County. The research questions aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of the intricate interplay between demographic variables, travel behaviors and individual motivations within this distinctive context. The research significantly contributes to furthering our understanding of the behavior of participants in religious tourism and pilgrimage in Vâlcea County, highlighting that certain variables, such as gender, education level and occupation, may or may not significantly impact their preferences and choices. Geographical Information System (GIS) software was used to map the study area and, at the same time, the main places of worship that were visited by tourists. The SPSS (version 15.0) program was used to investigate and analyze the quantitative research data. The results reveal that, in Vâlcea County’s religious tourism and pilgrimage, gender, age and education level do not significantly impact travel choices or visit durations. However, occupation emerges as a crucial factor influencing transportation preferences, while respondents’ place of origin shows no significant association with the presence of accompanying individuals during religious visits. The current research was limited by its focus on a single case study of Vâlcea County in the South-West Oltenia Region and the scarcity of previous studies on religious tourism and pilgrimage in Vâlcea County.