Managing Religious Tourism (Hardcover)

Managing Religious Tourism provides a global view of the tools and resources used in demand and supply management, in the context of pilgrimage and religious tourism. With a focus on toolkits and best practices, the book reinforces the quality of service provision and offers a reflection on consumers' perspectives and what drives their purchasing decisions with regards to a variety of destinations. These central themes are complemented by an understanding of management responses to consumer behaviour and mobility, accessibility, individualism and tourism for both sacred and secular purposes. The book also examines the ways in which networks, partnerships and the conceptual stakeholder approach can be employed by religious tourism suppliers working with destination management organisations. The text promotes sustainable development and a triple bottom line focus, with all chapters supporting policy for framing development. Key features include: - Global perspective on tools as well as management approaches and techniques. - Emphasis on sustainability in connecting sacred and secular consumers. - Focus on promoting learning and development within this important tourism sector.

Maureen Griffiths teaches in the Department of Marketing at Monash University, is based on the Clayton campus and is the Program Director BCom (Marketing Science). In 2011 she was awarded a Commendation for Outstanding Teaching and in February 2012 taught on the Masters program at the leading tourism school in Portugal, Escola Superior De Educação Instituto Politécnico De Viana Do Castelo. Her primary research interest is in religious tourism and she was an inaugural member of the International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Special Interest Group. Maureen is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage. In 2004 she participated in a Delphi group funded by the European Union as one of the world's ten leading experts in religious tourism. Maureen is a member of the Bayside Tourism Network, an advisory body to the City of Bayside and for four years was a judge for the Cardinia business awards. She is also Vice-President of the Australian Chapter of the International Institute for Peace Through Tourism.

- Dr. Sílvia Aulet Serrallonga is a professor at the Faculty of Tourism of the University of Girona teaching in the Degree of Tourism and in the Master of Cultural Tourism. Her PhD dissertation was the first in Spain to address the subject of religious tourism. Her research line is cultural tourism, from its conceptualization to its management. In this field her focus is twofold: pilgrimage and religious tourism and gastronomy tourism. She is member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal on Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage. She is also part of the Unitwin UNESCO Chair "Culture Tourism and Development. She has carried several research projects both in the university and as a consultant. She has recently participated in several national and European projects, notably in SPIRIT-Youth (related to the creation of a spiritual tourism proposal trough Europe for young people). Currently she cooperates with different institutions related to religious tourism, such as Montserrat Monastery, organizing courses and seminars to enhance the performance of tourism stakeholders in sacred spaces.

Nigel D. Morpeth (BA, MSc, PhD, PGCHE) currently is a senior lecturer in Tourism Management, School of Events Tourism and Hospitality, at Leeds Beckett University, UK. He started his academic career in 1989, after working for three UK local authorities within the field of community-based leisure provision, and has also taught at the University of Lincolnshire and was Visiting Scholar at Southern Cross University, New South Wales, Australia. He has published widely in books and journals and has jointly edited two tourism books with CABI. His current research projects and interests are in community and sustainability initiatives and the visual arts and tourism planning and development as well as in pilgrimage and tourism.

Alan Clarke currently works at the University of Pannonia, in Hungary and has had a significant role in establishing the English versions of the full undergraduate and Masters programmes. He has a wide range of research and consultancy experience in tourism planning, strategy and sustainable development. He has published widely in sustainable tourism, cultural heritage, community festivals and events, religious tourism and semiotic understandings of these developments. His current research focuses on aspects of governance and stakeholder involvement. He has adopted the Balaton and its cultures as a favourite place, warmed by the sun, refreshed by the waters and challenged to know more about the wines of the region.

Dr Daniel H. Olsen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, USA. His research interests revolve around religious and spiritual tourism, heritage tourism, and the management of sacred sites, with secondary research interests in tourism in peripheral areas and tourism and disabilities. He is co-editor of Religion, Tourism, and Spiritual Journeys (Routledge, 2006) and Religious Pilgrimage Routes and Trails (CABI, 2018), and has published over 40 journal articles and book chapters.