Nigerian praxis of religious tourism and pilgrimage motivations in the globalizing world

Autores

  • Ngozi N. Iheanacho Dept. of Religious & Cultural Studies Faculty of Humanities University of Port Harcourt, P.M.B. 5323, Choba, Port Harcourt Nigeria.

Resumo

Travel and Pilgrimage to holy sites and destinations of outstanding religious heritage date back to the ancient time, though moderately subscribed. Many of the ancient religious thinkers and a number of such minds in the modern world contend that such journeys are purely religious, and should be perceived and treated as distinct from tourism. But in contemporary time global cultural awareness and interconnectivity systems loom large in the orthodox and emerging religious traditions of mankind. This trend join with the development of global tourism industry to arouse peoples’ interest in sacred journeys, as it opens new direct and ancillary opportunities and horizons for sundry and implicit motives’ fulfillment. Thus, Nigerians’ increasing propensity for pilgrimage and religious tourism is the function of this phenomenon. At the outbound dimension it has become annual tradition and praxis for religious groups and government to budget and commit enormous resources to the project. Apart from the sojourners’ believe that such ‘heavenly journeys’ to Jerusalem, Mecca, etc. help to accelerate their migration to ultimate goal in life, the journeys also function as sources of social mobility, achievement in itself, and identity in society. Locally, the global impact on religious explosion and worship innovations have added to the sacred sites and monasteries of the orthodox churches, resulting in the promotion of inbound religious tourism and pilgrimage. Such destinations and activities attract foreign and local tourists. In all, Nigeria’s praxis of religious tourism and pilgrimage bring the ‘purely’ religious and sundry secular motives into synergy. This approach has also promoted the value and need to develop the tourism potentials of the indigenous religious traditions that adorn the country’s cultural diversity.       

 

KEYWORDS: (1) Nigerian praxis (2) Religious Tourism (3) Pilgrimage (4) Motivation

                        (5) Globalizing World

 

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Biografia do Autor

Ngozi N. Iheanacho, Dept. of Religious & Cultural Studies Faculty of Humanities University of Port Harcourt, P.M.B. 5323, Choba, Port Harcourt Nigeria.

Dept. of Religious & Cultural Studies
Faculty of Humanities

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Publicado

2015-09-30

Como Citar

N. Iheanacho, N. (2015). Nigerian praxis of religious tourism and pilgrimage motivations in the globalizing world. Revista Ciências Da Religião - História E Sociedade, 13(1). Recuperado de http://editorarevistas.mackenzie.br/index.php/cr/article/view/7982

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