Promotion Of Buddhist Tourism Circuits In Selected Asian Countries

This innovative collaborative work—the first to focus on Buddhist tourism—explores how Buddhists, government organizations, business corporations, and individuals in Asia participate in re-imaginings of Buddhism through tourism. Contributors from religious studies, anthropology, and art history examine sacred places and religious monuments as they have been shaped and reshaped by socioeconomic and cultural trends in the region. Following an introduction that offers the first theoretical understanding of tourism from a Buddhist studies’ perspective, early chapters discuss the ways Buddhists and non-Buddhists imagine concepts and places related to the religion. Case studies highlight Buddhist peace in India, Buddhist heavens and hells in Singapore, Thai temple space, and the future Buddha Maitreya in China. Buddhist tourism’s connections to the state, market, and new technologies are explored in chapters on Indian package tours for pilgrims, thematic Buddhist tourism in Cambodia, the technological innovations of Buddhist temples in China, and the promotion of pilgrimage sites in Japan. Contributors then situate the financial concerns of Chinese temples, speed dating in temples in Japan, and the diffuse and pervasive nature of Buddhism for tourism promotion in Ladakh, India. How have tourist routes, groups, sites, and practices associated with Buddhism come to be possible and what are the effects? In what ways do travelers derive meaning from Buddhist places? How do Buddhist sites fortify national, cultural, or religious identities? The comparative research in South, Southeast, and East Asia presented here draws attention to the intertwining of the sacred and the financial and how local and national sites are situated within global networks. Together these findings generate a compelling comparative investigation of Buddhist spaces, identities, and practices.

With eighty percent of the world's population professing religious faith, religious belief is a common human characteristic. This fascinating and highly unique Handbook brings together state-of-the-art research on incorporating religion into development studies literature and research. The expert contributors illustrate that as religious identity is integral to a community's culture, exclusion of religious consideration will limit successful development interventions; it is therefore necessary to conflate religion and development to enhance efforts to improve the lives of the poor. Issues addressed include: key tenets, beliefs and histories of religions; religious response to development concerns (gender, environment, education, microfinance, humanitarian assistance); and the role of faith based organisations and missionaries in the wider development context. Practical case studies of countries across Africa, Eastern Europe and the Pacific (including Australia) underpin the research, providing evidence that the intersection between religion and development is neither new nor static. By way of conclusion, suggestions are prescribed for extensive further research in order to advance understanding of this nascent field. This path-breaking Handbook will prove a thought-provoking and stimulating reference tool for academics, researchers and students in international development, international relations, comparative religion and theology.

This book explores the dynamic interaction between religion and tourism in the modern world. It considers questions such as: do travellers leave their religion at home when they are touring – and what happens if not? what are the relationships between tourism and pilgrimage? what happens to religious performances, places and festivals that function as tourism attractions? Other chapters examine religious theme parks, wellness and spa tourism, the roles played by tourist guides, guidebooks and religious souvenirs, and the role of tourism as a major arena of religious encounters in the contemporary world. Surveying the growing body of work in the field, Michael Stausberg argues that tourism should be a major focus of research within religious studies.

Pilgrimage is one of the oldest extant and most basic forms of population mobility known to human society, and its political, social, cultural, and economic implications have always been, and continue to be substantial. In recent decades, a new focus on pilgrimage has emerged through the lens of tourism, which explores the political, cultural, behavioral, economic, and geographical impacts. Therefore, the identification of challenges in transformation and emerging ways and means of managing pilgrimage and related destinations is critical in an era of crises and disastrous situations. Management and Practices of Pilgrimage Tourism and Hospitality identifies, understands, and recognizes the changing facts and facets of pilgrimage tourism around the world. It develops and promotes pilgrimage tourism for community integration, faith-sharing, perseverance, tolerance, and pace for secular and sustainable futures. This book further identifies any new issues, scopes, challenges, and entrepreneurial opportunities for pilgrimage tourism as are found to be relevant and important for future pilgrimages with larger intensity and frequency. Covering topics such as behavioral challenges, community empowerment, and pilgrimage economy, this book is an essential resource for entrepreneurs, professionals, researchers, academicians, policymakers, students of higher education, sociologists, and more.

Religion and spirituality are still among the most common motivations for travel - many major tourism destinations have developed largely as a result of their connections to sacred people, places and events. Providing a comprehensive assessment of the primary issues and concepts related to this intersection of tourism and religion, this revealing book gives a balanced discussion of both the theoretical and applied subjects that destination planners, religious organizations, scholars, and tourism service providers must deal with on a daily basis. Bringing together a distinguished list of contributors, this volume takes a global approach and incorporates substantial empirical cases from Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Mormonism, New Ageism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and the spiritual philosophies of East Asia. On a conceptual level, it considers, amongst other topics: contested heritage the pilgrim-tourist dichotomy secularization of pilgrimage experiences religious humanism educational aspects of religious tourism commodification of religious icons and services. A vibrant collection of essays, this outstanding book discusses many important practices, paradigms, and problems that are currently being examined and debated. It raises an array of significant and interesting questions and as such is a valuable resource for students, scholars and researchers of tourism, religion and cultural studies.

In a wide-ranging exploration of the creation and use of Buddhist art in Andhra Pradesh, India, from the second and third centuries of the Common Era to the present, Catherine Becker shows how material remains and visual experiences shape and reveal essential human concerns.

This timely book presents a unique collection of "new normal" trends, issues, and challenges of tourism and hospitality management and practices from the perspective of the COVID-19 pandemic. It features empirical contemporary research and case studies that incorporate a bottom-up approach from survival to revival of the travel and tourism industry around the world amidst the pandemic. The volume addresses a number of pandemic-related tourism issues. It looks at the impact of the pandemic on tourism-dependent economies and businesses as well as government responses in tourism-dependent cities and regions, including the US, India, Mexico, Australia, and Singapore. Topics include the links between mass tourism and airplane face mask shaming, with the obtained research used to suggest recommendations to ensure a sustainable post-crisis recovery for air-transport and tourism fields; new planning strategies for new tourism products and packages; using software to determine employability skills for jobs in tourism, hospitality, and events; and more. With a selection of revealing case studies, Domestic Tourism and Hospitality Management: Issues, Scope, and Challenges amid the COVID-19 Pandemic offers crucial and diverse insights for a better understanding of the most current issues, trends, and management strategies in tourism and hospitality from different parts of the world. It will be a helpful resource for researchers, academicians, policymakers, and other professionals around the world.