Media and Religious Tourism: A Thematic Review

Introduction

Human interactions and exchanges are extremely important for satisfying social needs to belong and relate to others (Bernstein, Zawadzki, Juth, Benfield, & Smyth, 2018). Tourism is an important source of social interaction that enhances positive emotions and releases stress (Vittengle & Holt, 2000) through travel experiences as the tourist visits other places and meets people during his journey (H. Lin, Zhang, Gursoy, & Fu, 2019). The tourism and travel (T&T) business are considered one of the fastest-growing industries in the world with huge economic and developmental impacts on the host countries by providing employment, businesses, foreign exchange, and global recognition (Shahzad, Shahbaz, Ferrer, & Kumar, 2017). In 2019, the total contribution of the T&T industry to the world's GDP was 8.9 trillion US dollars, with the industrial growth rate of 3.5%, which was above the world economy of 2.5% (WTTC, 2020).

Tourism and religions have long been connected since the followers of different faiths used to travel to diverse geographical sites for the fulfillment of their religious obligations and peace-seeking, e.g., pilgrimage, etc. (El-Gohary, 2016; Fleischer, 2000; Hashim, Murphy, & Hashim, 2007). Researchers have investigated multiple interventions of tourism with religious creeds and activities such as spirituality and pilgrimage (J. Huang & Chu, 2019; Jafari & Scott, 2014; Nilsson & Tesfahuney, 2016). This religious travel to holy places is prevalent in the modern era too. The religious tourists and travelers are not only motivated to perform pilgrims, but their travel inclinations also include the quest for visiting sacred and historical sites (Buzinde, Kalavar, Kohli, & Manuel-Navarrete, 2014; Olya, Lee, Lee, & Reisinger, 2019; Wang, Chen, & Huang, 2016). This phenomenon has led to an increased scholarly and economic interest in religious tourism, and the industry is attracting enormous growth and positive developments globally (Hu & Huang, 2019; Ozcan, Bişkin, & Şimşek, 2018).

The development of religious tourism can also help to achieve sustainable development goals in countries with cultural and religious heritages. This industry creates a positive economic and social impact on societies, but many of the developing countries have not still utilized it to their gifted potentials such as Pakistan and Bangladesh (UNWTO, 2020). According to WTTC (2020), 1 out of 10 jobs are created by the tourism industry in 2019, and it is the third sector with the highest GDP growth after information & communication and financial services.

The evolution of new technologies and contemporary tourism services has transformed the tourism experience. With the advancement of the internet, smart devices, and media technologies, religious travel is also being influenced. Researchers are suggesting the marketers utilize social media as a tool of online marketing because the internet is a powerful and widely used means for providing quick and dynamic information about global customer experiences, including transport, residence, food, and other interrelated services. While making travel decisions, people use to search for information about the destination places, services, and other tourists' experiences (Qureshi, Humayun, & Hummayun, 2015). Hence, different media channels are impacting the travel decisions of tourists through visual and online content and electronic word of mouth (eWOM) from other tourists (Molinillo, Ximénez-de-Sandoval, Fernández-Morales, & Coca-Stefaniak, 2016). Customers extensively engage in social media for the pre and post-travel eWOM because it enhances their understanding of the desired tourism places. The massive use of smart media technologies globally has provoked the popularity of posting experiences on social media at all stages of the travel. An increasing number of people now involved in social media for pre-visit, during the visit and post-visit content sharing. Thus, social networking through modern internet technologies is modifying the social experience of tourism, including religious travels also (Muslim, Harun, Ismael, & Othman, 2020).

The technological influence is not limited to any specific religion. Novel research shows that followers of different religions either in the western or eastern part of the world are transforming their travel experiences through social media networks (Muslim et al., 2020; Qurashi & Sharpley, 2017). However, research about the use of social media in tourism is mostly concentrated to western countries (Miguéns, Baggio, & Costa, 2008) and social media role with respect to religious tourism and eastern part of the world is relatively less explored.