The Spiritual, Ethical and Economical Impact of Religious Tourism: The Case of Transylvanian Monasteries
The Spiritual, Ethical and Economical Impact of Religious Tourism: The Case of Transylvanian Monasteries

Summary/Abstract: Tourism has often been related to pilgrimages. Although the cultural religious heritage attracts millions of people, thumbs, churches, temples, monasteries and other sacred places lead tourists with different reasons. The economic realities have led religious organizations, site managers, and community members to begin offering services to meet the needs of tourists, both religious and otherwise. The aim of this paper is to identify and to examine the perceptions that the principals of monasteries and sites have regarding the religious tourism phenomenon. Data was gathered through a qualitative research, consisting in several partial-structured interviews with monasteries‘ abbots from three different regions of Transylvania, places known as ―holy or sacred‖ destinations for the Romanian religious people. The findings of the study revealed some major dimensions of the potential impact of the religious tourism on monks‘ living, sites‘ image, goal and management and community economic and spiritual aspects. But among other things, they consider this form of tourism as a real danger for the sacred places as they may become too commercialized and the real purpose of a spiritual place overshadowed by economic aspects. Furthermore, the study presents possible solutions for the caveats and ethical issues raised by religious tourism industry in order to maintain what is sacred and to create a delicate balance between holy and profane items.

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