ETHICAL/ Faith Tourism - Rich Religious Heritage

According to a recent religious travel study carried out by TravelStyles, and commissioned by the Globus family of brands, approximately 35% of all outbound travelers are interested in undertaking a religious vacation or pilgrimage. It is worth pointing out that 17% of them hope to have this kind of vacation in the next 5 years. What this means is that there are currently 16 million travelers who are interested in international religious vacations. What is more astonishing is that it seems to...

Tirupati, the abode of Lord Venkateshwara, a form or the Hindu God Vishnu, is located in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh in India. It represents both the bustling temple town at the foothills and the main pilgrimage centre, Tirumala, nestling 3,000 feet high on cool verdant hills of the Eastern Ghats, 600 km/40 miles south of Hyderabad, the state capital. These hills are said to resemble the mythical serpent Adishesha, the mount of the Lord Venkateshwara. Hence, the deity is called ‘Shashac...

The austere nature of living among nuns and monks had been perceived by most people as somewhat tedious; low-lighted rooms, beds with lumpy mattresses, ordinary tables, depleted chairs and whitewashed plaster walls. As religion goes on with modernization, this is no longer the situation in some convents and monasteries. Recently, more and more convents and monasteries have evolved into luxurious hotel-like establishments and you might even feel a bit guilty thinking how their previous occupants...

A faith based cruise is a voyage through the high seas. Of the major religions of the world, the Christian faith takes the icing on the cake for organizing the highest number of faith based cruises. Coming a respectable second is the new age movement, whose leadership hosts seminars in exquisite islands across the globe. A recent article in the Travel Market Report by Andrew Sheivachman opines that the cruise market is upbeat going into the next year, this is following a recent slump in booki...