Religious Tourism: The Way to Santiago

Religious Tourism:
The Way to Santiago
David Mashhadigholam Rojo
MA EUROPEAN TOURISM MANAGEMENT 2006/2007
Bournemouth University
Fachhochschule Heilbronn

I declare that this dissertation is my own unaided work. I have not included any
material or data from other authors or sources which are not acknowledged and
identified in the prescribed manner. I have read the section in the Student Handbook
on Assessment Offences and understand that such offences may lead the
Examinations Board to withhold or withdraw the award of Master of Arts.
20 August 2007
David Mashhadi
David Mashhadigholam Rojo ii

Abstract
Religious tourism and pilgrimages are one of the oldest forms of tourism. The
present dissertation focuses on the increase of non religious tourists into religious
sites. This increase is influenced by different types of motivation. A literature review
on tourism motivation will clarify the reasons the tourists have in order to travel to
one specific destination. These motivations differ one from another according to the
tourist’s personal beliefs.
Santiago de Compostela, part from UNESCO’s World Heritage List and one of the
three more important sites of pilgrimage for Christianity, together with Rome and
Jerusalem, is the place chosen to carry out a case-study where the increase of non
religious tourists into Santiago will be analysed
The Way of Santiago, the different Ways and its history, take part in this dissertation,
since Santiago de Compostela is the last stage and the final destination for all the
pilgrims coming from any of the Ways. Most of these pilgrims have turned
nowadays into religious tourism consumers.
A quantitative research was undertaken to measure the motivations the tourists have
visiting Santiago de Compostela. In order to measure their motivations, a
questionnaire was created and asked to 489 visitors with questions such as place of
residence, level of studies, information about the trip and personal religious beliefs,
to have a description of the type of tourists which consume religious tourism.
After analysing the results of this research, not a clear difference between religious
tourists visiting Santiago de Compostela and non religious tourists or tourist with a
weak religious belief was found; therefore the results suggest that the personal
religious belief is not an affecting factor when choosing the tourist destination.
David Mashhadigholam Rojo iii

Table of Contents
Abstract .................................................................................................................. iii
Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................x
1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................1
1.1 Introduction...............................................................................................1
1.2 Reasons for choosing this topic .................................................................2
1.3 Research Area ...........................................................................................3
1.4 Research Aim and Objectives....................................................................3
1.5 Hypothesis ................................................................................................4
1.6 Dissertation Structure ................................................................................5
2 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................7
2.1 Definitions of Religious Tourism...............................................................7
2.2 Pilgrimage.................................................................................................9
2.2.1 Different Pilgrimage sites ................................................................10
2.2.2 Missionary.......................................................................................10
2.3 Common features of pilgrimage...............................................................11
2.4 Pilgrims or tourists ..................................................................................12
2.5 Motivation...............................................................................................15
2.5.1 Religious motivation........................................................................18
2.5.2 Cultural Motivation .........................................................................19
2.5.3 Pilgrimage Motivations....................................................................20
2.6 Past Research ..........................................................................................21
3 CHAPTER 3 THE WAY TO SANTIAGO......................................................24
3.1 History of The Way of Santiago ..............................................................24
3.2 Pilgrims on the route ...............................................................................25
3.3 The different routes .................................................................................26
3.3.1 French Way .....................................................................................26
3.3.2 Aragonese way ................................................................................27
3.3.3 Primitive Way..................................................................................28
3.3.4 North Way.......................................................................................29
3.3.5 Portuguese Way...............................................................................30
David Mashhadigholam Rojo iv

3.3.6 English Way ....................................................................................31
3.3.7 Silver way........................................................................................31
3.3.8 Arousa sea and Ulla river; Jacobean itinerary...................................32
3.3.9 Finisterre Way .................................................................................34
3.4 History of Santiago de Compostela..........................................................34
3.5 World Heritage........................................................................................35
3.6 Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela ......................................................36
3.7 Cultural Tourism in Santiago de Compostela...........................................37
4 CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGY ....................................................................39
4.1 Sample ....................................................................................................39
4.2 Data collection source .............................................................................39
4.2.1 Secondary data sources....................................................................39
4.2.2 Primary data sources........................................................................40
4.2.2.1 Quantitative research................................................................40
4.2.2.2 Qualitative research..................................................................41
4.2.2.3 Pros and Cons ..........................................................................42
4.3 Limitations ..............................................................................................43
5 CHAPTER 5 MAIN FINDINGS.....................................................................45
5.1 Analyses of the variables.........................................................................45
5.2 Hypothesis Results ..................................................................................52
5.3 Research Results .....................................................................................55
6 CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS........................57
6.1 Conclusion ..............................................................................................57
6.2 Recommendations ...................................................................................58
6.2.1 Recommendations for the tourism industry ......................................58
6.2.2 Recommendations for further research.............................................59
APPENDICES........................................................................................................61
APPENDIX 1. Questionnaire..............................................................................61
APPENDIX 2. Stages of the French Way............................................................62
APPENDIX 3. Stages of the Primitive Way ........................................................62
APPENDIX 4. Stages of the North Way..............................................................63
APPENDIX 5. Stages of the Portuguese Way .....................................................63
David Mashhadigholam Rojo v

APPENDIX 6. Stages of the English Way...........................................................64
APPENDIX 7. Stages of the Silver Way .............................................................65
APPENDIX 8. Stages of the Jacobean Itinerary ..................................................65
APPENDIX 9. Stages of the Finisterre Way........................................................66
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................67
David Mashhadigholam Rojo vi

List of Tables
Table 5.1.1 Sex.......................................................................................................45
Table 5.1.2 Place of Residence................................................................................46
Table 5.1.3 Level of studies ....................................................................................46
Table 5.1.4 Who did you travel with? .....................................................................47
Table 5.1.5 Number of people in the journey ..........................................................47
Table 5.1.6 Duration of the stay ..............................................................................48
Table 5.1.7 Type of accommodation .......................................................................48
Table 5.1.8 If the answer is hotel specify ................................................................49
Table 5.1.9 Way of entry to Santiago ......................................................................50
Table 5.1.10 Visiting the Cathedral is your .............................................................50
Table 5.1.11 Religion..............................................................................................51
Table 5.1.12 Cross tabulation: Religion/ Way of entry to Santiago..........................51
Table 5.1.13 Cross tabulation: Level of studies/Religion.........................................52
David Mashhadigholam Rojo vii

List of Figures
Figure 2.4.1 Scale Pilgrim/Tourist...........................................................................14
Figure 2.5.1 Seven Elements for a sound theory of tourist motivation .....................17
David Mashhadigholam Rojo viii

List of Map
Map 3.3.1 French Way............................................................................................27
Map 3.3.2 Aragonese Way......................................................................................27
Map 3.3.3 Primitive Way........................................................................................28
Map 3.3.4.1 North Way ..........................................................................................29
Map 3.3.4.2 North Way (Coastal) ...........................................................................30
Map 3.3.5 Portuguese Way .....................................................................................30
Map 3.3.7 English Way...........................................................................................31
Map 3.3.7 Silver way..............................................................................................32
Map 3.3.8.1 Via Sanxenxo......................................................................................33
Map 3.3.8.2 Via Ribeira..........................................................................................33
Map 3.3.9 Finisterre Way........................................................................................34
David Mashhadigholam Rojo ix

Acknowledgments
I would like to dedicate this dissertation to all the people I have known during this
fascinating year, from all the teachers in Sweden and Germany until all the friends I
have made during the Master.
To Mike Morgan, for sharing with me the interest in religious tourism.
To my parents, for their constant support and for being there every time I needed
them.
To my sister Zahra, for all the good moments we share together.
And to all my friends who are always close to me wherever I am.
David Mashhadigholam Rojo
09-08-2007, Madrid, Spain
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
This dissertation reports on research into the image of Santiago de Compostela as a
religious tourist destination and the focus of the paper will be getting to know if
tourism in religious sites is clearly influenced by religion as the main reason to visit
them.
In spite of the fact that nowadays a lot of people live in a secular way, according to
Jackowski (2000) more than a 35% of all international tourists travel because of
religion; pilgrims in their majority.
Human beings have had always the need to believe in something superior. Along the
centuries, we have discovered several cults and beliefs related to different gods of
superior forces, which humans used to adore, creating representations and buildings
to have something material to pray to.
The religious heritage we have today is the legacy given by all the ancient cultures, a
result of the evolution of different myths and beliefs. Nowadays, the three biggest
religions in the world are Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism, with a 33%, 21% and
14% worldwide of followers respectively. Thanks to tourism, a lot of churches,
cathedrals, temples, shrines, etc, have not fallen into oblivion, keeping the grandeur
that they had in the past.
Esteve (2002) explains how tourism and religion have been linked since the Genesis
until these days through the Grand Tour stage, where young and rich people traveled
to learn and study into different countries, motivated as well because of the religion.
Sometimes the terms of cultural tourism and religious tourism are mixed because of
their proximity. (For example, Herbert (1995); Du Cros and McKercher (2002); Ooi
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
(2002)) Although they are completely different terms, cultural and religious tourism
are linked one with another as a religion is always part of the culture.
According to Vukonic (1996), most religions require, whatever the aim is, to visit
holy places. Visiting sacred places help people to verify and reinforce their beliefs,
seeing that the personages they believe in were real people who lived in our world in
other times.
Nowadays, there are thousands of different holy places around the world which have
enough attractions to develop and provoke movements among the population. Those
holy places have a different meaning for each group of people (cultural, religious,
mystic, etc), depending on the aim of their trip.
However, when is spoken about holy places, there is no need to think only about
modern practising ones, such as cathedrals and synagogues, but also in the ancient
religions and their legacies, such as Machu Pichu in Peru, or Stonehenge in England,
as they are also the result of ancient’s beliefs.
1.2 Reasons for choosing this topic
Pilgrimages to tradition places or religious cult made from the antiquity, have
become for long ago until nowadays in one of the most important parts in tourism,
what is known by religious tourism, and in one of the main studied and analysed
motivations in order to choose a tourist destination.
Being the religion one of the most influential factors along humanity, and its cultural
and economic develop, I found quite interesting to research in this topic, not only for
my personal enrichment but also because I describe myself as a religious tourism
consumer.
From the previous analysis done in order to find a topic to research on, and before
deciding why choosing this topic and not another, new doubts arose concerning
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
which tourist destination should I choose and the different factors to analyse. Among
those factors, the most interesting was getting to know weather the majority of the
tourists, visiting religious destinations, had a strong religious belief or not, in other
words, if religion had affected the tourists in order to visit this type of destinations.
In spite of the fact that at the beginning I wanted to study a comparative analyse
between the most significant religious tourist destinations from the main religions in
the world, I chose centring my research on only one religion and one tourist
destination, in this case, Christianity in Santiago de Compostela as one of the most
representative sites for this religion.
The reasons in order to make a decision were various. For example, the proximity to
the city were I was writing the thesis, getting to know weather most of the visitants
were religious or non religious, or just the fact of visiting the city.
1.3 Research Area
In this study, the research area focuses on religious tourism. Santiago de Compostela
as a case study will be the area researched where a sample of 489 visitors will answer
the question weather religion or religious activities are the main motivation of the
tourists to visit the city, specially the Cathedral, as an example of a sacred site and
pilgrimage destination.
1.4 Research Aim and Objectives
The research aim and objectives of this dissertation, covers the fact that religious
people travel around the world to visit sacred sites because of the religion, and not
because of another type of motivation, such as cultural motivation, or historical
motivation.
The main objective of the dissertation is to find out how much is increasing the
number of non believers, or people without a strong religious belief travel who travel
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
to religious sites, and by which motivations are they influenced to choose a religious
site as their tourist destination.
Another objective is to analyse the nature of the consumers of religious tourism by
demographic and economic variables such as nationality, sex, or accommodation
during the stay.
Getting to know the history of Santiago de Compostela and have an overview from
all the different routes that made Santiago one of the most important places of
pilgrimage is another objective from this research.
Ending with some recommendations is another objective, mainly because of the lack
of research in religious tourism, an area which is considerably increasing nowadays
as it will be seen in the research.
Santiago is one of the three more important pilgrimage places for Christianity
together with Jerusalem and Rome, therefore the results of the research will show
how does the number of no believers increase or decrease according to a quantitative
research in this specific destination.
1.5 Hypothesis
The first hypothesis of this research is: most of the people who travel to a sacred site
or to a place of pilgrimage are religious in their majority, and travel because of
religious motivations.
This hypothesis is based on the tradition of the religions where, in most of the cases,
the pilgrimage to a sacred site is needed. Spain is a country where an 83.5% consider
themselves catholic and where a 22.6% prays God every day (Religion Statistics,
Spain, 2005).
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
But still, the aim of this research is get to know how increases the number of people
who travel to these sacred sites, not motivated by religion but because of another
type of motivation such as cultural, historical, or just getting to know how is a sacred
site or to see how people with a strong religious belief behave in this sacred sites.
In this case, Santiago de Compostela, one of the three more important places of
pilgrimage together with Jerusalem and Rome, is the place of research were a
number of 489 visitors will answer different question to get to know how is their
religious influence in order to visit a sacred site.
Besides the main hypothesis named before, another hypothesis will be studied such
us: Most of the pilgrims which did the Way of Santiago were motivated by religion to
do this pilgrimage or people with primary or secondary studies have a stronger
religious belief than people with university studies.
These different hypotheses will analyse the different aspects of the tourists
(sometimes pilgrims), and their socioeconomic aspect: Level of studies,
accommodation during the stay, number of visitors, type of activities done during the
stay, and more different aspects.
All the results and main findings of these hypothesis will be shown and analysed in
the Chapter 5: Main Findings
1.6 Dissertation Structure
The dissertation is structured in 6 different chapters:
Chapter one: Introduction of the topic, area, aim and objectives of the research and
the introduction of the different questions and hypothesis by which the dissertation is
based.
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
Chapter two: Literature review, also called theoretical background or secondary
data source is given in this second chapter. It includes concepts and definitions of
religious tourism, pilgrims, different types of motivations, past research and history
of these concepts.
Chapter three: Santiago de Compostela, its history and background and a brief
introduction about the Way of Saint James, also known as the Way of Santiago, and
a description of the different roads that lead to Santiago, are given in this third
chapter.
Chapter four: In this chapter, the introduction of the methodology used in this
dissertation is offered (sample and type of questionnaire used), as well as a
discussion between different techniques of research (qualitative and quantitative).
Closing the chapter; limitations found during the research close the chapter four.
Chapter five: This chapter shows the analysis of the main findings encountered in
the research. Different tables show the results of the research with a commentary on
the data found. The hypotheses testing and the conclusions are also given in this
chapter.
Chapter six: The last chapter represents the conclusion of the whole dissertation,
and the recommendations for future research.
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Definitions of Religious Tourism
Religious Tourism nowadays is considered as a common motivation for travel, as
Jackowski (2000) estimates that approximately 240 million people travel every year
because of the religion, including Christians, Muslims and Hindus.
Although religious tourism is one of the most understudies areas in tourism research
(Vukonic 1998), increases in spiritually motivated travel have coincided with the
growth of tourism in the modern era (Lloyd 1998).
Religion has played a key role from their very first days in the development of
leisure over the centuries and has influenced how people utilize their leisure time.
Already in the Holy Bible (Genesis 2:1-3) a fragment name leisure time:
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the
seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh
day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it
holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”
This seventh day named already in the Bible was the beginning of the leisure time,
which has evolved as the perception of tourism that we all have nowadays.
Horner and Swarbrooke (1999) explain how Religious tourism is one of the oldest
forms of tourism and it has undoubtedly existed long before Christianity. Egyptians,
Greeks, and Jews expressed their devotion through religious motivated trips. Travel
for religious reasons existed also in Africa and Asia. A good example are the
Zoroastrians (Runciman, 1987), which motivated pilgrimages in ancient times with a
less influence nowadays.
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Most researchers identify religious tourism with the individual’s quest for shrines
and locales where the visitors seek to experience the sense of identity with sites of
historical and cultural meaning (Nolan and Nolan 1989).
Al-Amin (2002), explains how religious tourism is not one type of tourism, as
is the case of secular tourism and describes two different types of religious tourism, a
tourism performed through a religious duty, and tourism where the knowledge is
recorded and quoted for wider dissemination.
Should the aim of religious tourism be to obtain the Blessings of God, it would
achieve another objective, and that is to attract tourists. The aim is to introduce to
tourists a country which the tourists find unfamiliar and which is impossible to know
about without the existence of religious tourism in the first place. Visitors would also
be unable to know more about the people of a country if religious tourism not exists
there. (Al-Amin 2002)
In this way, from the Islamic point of view and according to Shakiry (2003), tourism
is integrated in the global vision of civilized and interdependent tourism, whose
principal bases are respect of the noble human values and ethics which preserves for
the human being, respect for the environment.
Among different statements the most remarkable from Shakiry (2003) are:
• Support for social solidarity by taking care to profit the local populations
from the tourist activity.
• Making the effort to give the right of travel to all people by offering services
at suitable prices to all the social classes.
• Respect for the families of various religions and various people who want to
preserve their values and the education of their children.
• Respects for people who observe the Islamic values; those prohibiting certain
things permitted by certain societies which adopt the principles of freedom
and democracy, without limits or regulations.
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
From this point of view, tourism, due to the opportunities, offers people from
different religions and cultures to come to know each other, it can play a major role
in bringing people together, providing mutual understanding and peace between the
people of the whole world, and not only between rich persons. (Shakiry 2003)
In spite of the fact that these statements facilitate a typical description of tourism, and
religious tourism, Christianity have another characteristic to describe what is
religious tourism, more orientated to the pilgrimage as the main consumers of
religious tourism.
Smith ((1992) in Collins-Kreiner, 2000) explains how the link between pilgrimage
and religious tourism comes from the Latin peregrinus which interpretation is
foreign, traveler, newcomer or stranger. The term tourist, also with Latin origins,
means tornus or the one who makes a circuitous journey, usually for pleasure, and
returns to the starting point. The contemporary use of the terms, identifying the
pilgrim as a religious traveler and the tourist as a vacationer, is a culturally
constructed polarity that veils the traveler’s motives.
2.2 Pilgrimage
Pilgrimage is defined as: “A journey resulting from religious causes, externally to a
holy site and internally for spiritual purposes and internal understanding” (Barber,
1993:1). This journey has existed as long as religions. The actual one dates back to
the Middle Age when pilgrimage was very popular. Journeys, then, were very long
and dangerous. They could take several years and were not considered as holidays.
Normally, ancient pilgrims used to travel in groups and spend the nights in
monasteries. Nowadays this has changed for most of the people.
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.2.1 Different Pilgrimage sites
According to Collins-Kreiner (2006), Pilgrimage is one of the well-known
phenomena in religion and it exists in all the main religions of the world:
Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism.
For Christianity, places as Jerusalem, Rome, or Santiago de Compostela, remain as
the three more important place of pilgrimage. Lourdes in France is considered as
well as one of the most important pilgrimage sites.
For Islam, Mecca, and Medina are still the places of pilgrimage, in this case not
volunteered but obliged for every Muslim to go to Mecca at least once in their lives.
For Judaism, the main site of pilgrimage for Jewish religion was the Temple of
Jerusalem until it was destroyed in 70 AD. Jerusalem and the Wailing Wall also in
Jerusalem are the most important places of pilgrimage for the Jews.
For Buddhism, there are four different places of pilgrimage, but the most important is
the birthplace of Buddha at Kapilavastu in Nepal.
2.2.2 Missionary
Lewis (2004) explains that beside the pilgrims, there were other kinds of religiously-
inspired travellers, especially in the Christians, and they are called missioners. From
early times, Christian missions were active on and beyond the frontiers of
Christendom.
For centuries this missionary did not include the lands of Islam because apostasy in
Muslim law is a capital offence and therefore it involves the execution of the
apostate and the seducer.
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Muslims did not engage in organized missionary activities but there were the
wandering the Sufis carrying the faith through Central Asia, India and other places,
being in its way pilgrims spreading their faith to other countries.
2.3 Common features of pilgrimage
Fadhlalla (2000) shows the common features that the pilgrimage has in all different
religions:
• The significance of water by the site of a sacred place or shrine. Water is
important as a means of purification, both for purposes of ablution and for
curing the sick.
• The ancient origin of many sites of pilgrimage. Newer faiths build their
temples and shrines in places which have been venerated since ancient times.
• Difficult access to the sacred places, requiring the pilgrim to make a long and
arduous journey, including jungles and deserts.
• The need to make sacrifices as part of the rites of pilgrimage. This includes
offerings of food, flowers, and small amounts of money or similar tokens.
• Physical obeisance at the shrine, and in some cases on the road towards the
shrine.
• Making the pilgrimage on foot.
• A special mode of dress. This dress is often preserved as the pilgrim’s shroud.
• Belief that objects left at a sacred place will become impregnated with divine
or supernatural energy.
• Importance of mountains and isolated locations as places of worship.
• The benefits of maintaining all night vigils at a sacred place.
• Certain times of the day and dates in the lunar calendar, specially the full
moon, are considered more auspicious for pilgrimage.
• Certain foods are prohibited during the pilgrimage.
• Abstention from cutting the hair or nails, as well as from sexual relations
during the time of pilgrimage.
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
• The more removed the rites of pilgrimage become from their original purity,
the more likely is the growth of an avaricious priestly class and the rise of
superstitious practices.
These statements about the common features in pilgrimage have also evolved.
Nowadays, following all these statements depends on the quantity of faith or if the
people have a strong religious belief, or a weak religious believe. Personal reasons
also affect to follow all the common characteristics of pilgrims for all different
religions.
2.4 Pilgrims or tourists
Coleman (2004) explains how there is a clear difference between tourism and
pilgrimage. Tourism can be defined as a leisure activity while pilgrimage is more of
a sacred journey. However, for the tourism sector, pilgrims are treated as simple
tourists, because in their religious trips they have the same needs as non-devoted
pilgrims, and moreover, they can visit typical tourist places like museums, cafes or
shops, being the only difference the purpose of their visit.
Nowadays, pilgrimage has become an important source for the tourism world. In
general, this kind of tourism is linked to the thought of journeys to sacred sites,
including a strong religious motivation. This research has helped to see this kind of
tourism from a different angle and to understand that not all the people making
pilgrimages or visiting religious places are really following a spiritual motivation.
For this reason, a differentiation was tried to distinguish two different types of
religious tourism, as not everyone going on a pilgrimage has the same reason for it.
Nevertheless, it is almost impossible to clearly define the number of those who are
devoted pilgrims and those with a desire of travelling for leisure and to admire
beautiful buildings as unique art pieces, as for example, the ones visiting the
Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, unless a deep research is done. (Post et al,
1998)
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
The motivations for pilgrimage are vast and diverse. However, something they all
have in common is the desire to travel and experience something new.
In this case, the example of the Christian pilgrimage is taken, considered as an
attempt to follow the footsteps of Christ. People chose different walks, places and
diverse landscapes that Jesus (or his followers) could have seen. Doing this, pilgrims
have the feeling that they have approached the texts of the Bible more closely. For
those people, there are several reasons to go on a sacred journey, as for example, to
show their love to God, to get near something that is really sacred, to show God their
gratitude, to ask for pardon or to beg for a miracle. (Post et al, 1998)
On the other hand, the example of simple tourists who travel to try something new
and to visit a sacred site. Their motivations would be totally different as they would
look for completely diverse aspects, as visiting a place which seems interesting or
has a fascinating history background, to admire something attractive, to make a
holiday more exciting, to experiment, change the well-known routine of life so
something new can happen, to satisfy curiosity and also perhaps merely to keep up
with a modern trend for making such trips. (Post et al, 1998)
There are different approaches and points of view about the aim of a religious trip.
But it is important to see that there is a clear difference between religious and
cultural tourism. The visits to merely ‘admire’ religious monuments cannot be
considered as pilgrimages as they have more of a cultural than a religious motivation.
In the following figure, a scale differentiating the pious pilgrim with the secular
tourist, and the different types of pilgrims/tourists, in between:
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Figure 2.4.1 Scale Pilgrim/Tourist
Pilgrimage Religious Tourism Tourism
A B C D E
Sacred Faith / Profane Knowledge – Based Secular
A : Pious Pilgrim
B : Pilgrim > Tourist
C : Pilgrim = Tourist
D: Pilgrim < Tourist
E: Secular Tourist
Source: Smith, ((1992:4) in Collins-Kreiner 2006)
In this table can be observed how Smith (1992:4) divides the differences between
pilgrim and tourists into five different segments. The Pious Pilgrim, the one who is
strongly motivated by his religious beliefs. The pilgrim motivated in big part by the
faith. The pilgrim motivated by the faith but also with interest in visiting cultural
sites and with another kind of motivations, not only religious motivations. The
pilgrim, which is motivated by cultural reasons, with interest in getting to know the
religious tradition. And the secular tourist which has no religious influence at all,
when choosing the tourist destination.
Horner and Swarbrooke (1999) show how the traditional infrastructure of religious
tourism has also become an attraction for the non religious tourists, most notably
cathedrals and churches.
At the same time, due to the growing pressures of life, many non believers are taking
short trips to religious establishments for relaxation and spiritual enlightenment. For
instance men can visit Orthodox monasteries in Mount Athos in Greece, for a short
period, free of charge, providing they abide by the regime of the Monastery. (Horner
and Swarbrooke 1999)
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.5 Motivation
Mountinho (1987: 16) defined motivation as a state of need, as a condition that exerts
a push on the individual towards certain types of action that are seen as likely to
bring satisfaction. Page (2003) explains how it is important to understand what the
tourists desires, needs and looks for from the process of consuming a tourism
experience that involves an invest of money, in order to achieve a level of
satisfaction.
Yet tourist motivation is a complex area dominated by the social psychologists, with
their concern for the behaviour, attitudes and thoughts of people as consumers of
tourism (Page 2003).
For Pearce (1993), in any attempt to understand tourist motivation must be
considered the develop of a concept of motivation in tourism, to know what practical
measures need to be developed to measure people’s motivation for travel, especially
the existence of multi-motivation situations, with more than one factor influencing
the desire to engage in tourism.
Motivation is an initial point in studying tourism behaviour and beyond that for
understanding the systems of tourism (Gunn 1988).
Chen (2006) believes that individuals have limited motives and are likely to change
their motivation in ascending stages over time.
Pearce (2005) explains how the difficulties in studying motivation are considerable.
Unlike the frequently measured purpose of travel, which is considered to be public
and self-explanatory, the motivations for travel are covert in that they reflect an
individual’s private needs and wants. Nevertheless the value of pursuing travel
motivation studies can be described as extensive.
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Pearce (2005) exposes that motivation studies are of interest to businesses and
commercial analysts because sound market appraisals can be built on such
appraisals.
Although there has been an awareness of the need to develop motivation theories,
existing approaches only partially meet all the requirements of a good theory (Pearce
1993)
Figure 2.5.1 shows seven elements that have been identified as important for a tourist
motivational theory.
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Figure 2.5.1 Seven Elements for a sound theory of tourist motivation
Element Explanation
1 The role of the theory Must be able to integrate existing tourist needs,
2 The ownership and
appeal of a theory
reorganize the needs and provide a new orientation for
future research
Must appeal to specialist researchers, be useful in
tourism industry settings and credible to marketers and
consumers
3 Ease of communication Must be relatively easy to explain to potential users and
4 Ability to measure
travel motivation
5 A multi-motive versus
single-trait approach
6 A dynamic versus
snapshot approach
7 The roles of extrinsic
and intrinsic
motivation
Source: Pearce (2005:52)
be universal in its application
Must be amenable to empirical study. The ideas can be
translated into questions and responses for assessments
purposes
Must consider the view that travellers may seek to
satisfy several needs at once. Must be able to model the
pattern of traveller needs, not just consider one need.
Must recognize that both individuals and societies
change over time. Must be able to consider or model
the changes that are taking place continuously in
tourism
Must be able to consider that travellers are variously
motivated by intrinsic, self-satisfying goals and at other
times motivated by extrinsic, socially controlled
rewards
After the review on tourism motivation, and in spite of the fact that religious
motivation, motivations for pilgrimage and cultural motivation are different subjects,
sometimes these factors are mixed in the same definition. Therefore some differences
will be explained.
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.5.1 Religious motivation
According to Grunewald (1999), for the Christianity, the idea of pilgrimage is
undoubtedly linked to the belief that “The Church is pilgrim” as the will of people
following God
The religious sense of the people has found, its expression in varied forms of mercy
around the sacramental life of the Church such as, among others, the pilgrimages.
Horner and Swarbrooke (1999) explain how religious tourism and the motivations to
do this type of tourism is unique in that is driven by a sense of duty and obligation
rather than a search for pleasure and leisure.
Pilgrimage constitutes for the believer an oration experience that evokes that status
viatoris, and supposes therefore a penance attitude with respect to preoccupations.
Frequently the pilgrim goes to the sanctuary requesting a particular grace.
In synthesis:, the believer accedes to the motivated destination to live a spiritual
experience on approach to God that is expressed through the peregrination from its
place of habitual residence to the destination as an act of reinforcement of the Faith,
through the spiritual retirement in the sanctuary chose in the destination and through
the participation in some religious event, as masses or another religious activities
(Shackley 2001).
Olsen and Guleke (2004) describe how these types of motivations are complex.
Some travel in order to maintain an identity, another to satisfy the feelings of
nostalgia, to experience the transcendent or to fulfil the teachings of particular faiths
as for example, the journeys to Mecca for devout Muslims.
Timothy and Olsen (2006) explain how though a quest for understanding has always
been an integral part of pilgrimage, the emphasis on acquiring knowledge as a
motivation has increased.
During medieval Christian pilgrimage, expiating sins, demonstrating faith or the
hope to be healed eclipsed the desire to learn by visiting new places. As medieval
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
pilgrimage evolved into modern religious tourism, the emphasis on gaining
knowledge as a motivation for undertaking the journey increased (Swatos and
Tomasi (2002) in Timothy and Olsen (2006)).
An anthropological interest in the exotic other and in one’s own religious roots
similarly increased as a motivation for travel to sites of religious significance
(Galbraith 2000)
Today, opportunities for learning are often emphasized by organizers of and
participants in religious tours. (Timothy and Olsen 2006)
2.5.2 Cultural Motivation
The World Tourism Organisation (WTO) exposes the definition of cultural tourism
as:
“Movements of persons for essentially cultural motivations such
as study tours, performing arts and cultural tours, travel to
festivals and other cultural events, visits to sites and
monuments, travel to study nature, folklore or art, and
pilgrimages”
Although the WTO explains that pilgrimage is part of cultural tourism, different type
of motivations will be explained.
According to Richards (2007), not all cultural consumption by tourists is stimulated
by cultural motivations but sometimes as a secondary objective. For example if it
rains, tourists may forsake the beach for the museum. In this case cultural tourism
and the motivations to do cultural tourism are influences by other factors and act as
the secondary objective. This type of cultural tourism may be different in terms of
motivation and behaviour from those who set out from home with the intention of
consuming specific cultural manifestations.
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Grunewald (1999) explains how other visitors, believers or no believers accede to the
places of cult and sanctuaries in order to internalize themselves of all those elements
of identification of the cult, such as the constructions, the rituals, the images or the
events.
Thus different types of behaviours of the visitor in the destination might appear:
The believer based on a cultural experience goes to the destination only motivated to
live a religious experience.
The visitor who goes to a specific destination attracted by the cultural elements
related to the religion. For instance to visit a Church by its architecture and its
cultural patrimony, works of art or just to know more about the history of the place.
Richards (2007) explains that in many of the trips usually seen as cultural tourism,
often involve a visit to a religious site. For example visiting Notre Dame in Paris is
always part of a cultural visit, but it involves religious tourism.
Almost 40 percent of individual cultural tourists had visited a religious monument in
the previous two years (AFIT, 2002)
2.5.3 Pilgrimage Motivations
The motivations for pilgrimage are vast and diverse. However, something they all
have in common is the desire to travel and experience something new.
As an example is taken the Christian pilgrimage, considered as an attempt to follow
the footsteps of Christ. People chose different walks, places and diverse landscapes
that Jesus (or his followers) could have seen.
Doing this, pilgrims have the feeling that they have approached the texts of the Bible
more closely. For those people, there are several reasons to go on a sacred journey,
as for example, to show their love to God, to get near something that is really sacred,
to show God their gratitude, to ask for pardon or to beg for a miracle.
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
On the other hand, there are the simple tourists who travel to try something new and
to visit a sacred site.
Their motivations would be totally different as they would look for completely
diverse aspects, as visiting a place which seems interesting or has a fascinating
history background, to admire something attractive, to make a holiday more exciting,
to experiment, change the well-known routine of life so something new can happen,
to satisfy curiosity and also perhaps merely to keep up with a modern trend for
making such trips.
As it can be seen, there are different approaches and points of view about the aim of
a religious trip. But it is important to see that there is a clear difference between
religious and cultural tourism. The visits to merely admire religious monuments
cannot be considered as pilgrimages as they have more of a cultural than a religious
motivation
2.6 Past Research
Some past research has been done concerning religious tourism and more facts
related to this issue as impacts or development in different areas of the world, where
religious tourism have a big influence. These researches reach international coverage
as:
Al-Amin (2002): This paper is about religious tourism in Islamic Heritage and
explains the different conceptions of religious tourism, and how tourists get to know
Islamic countries, in this case, through religious tourism.
Baedcharoen (2000): This study tries to understand the resident attitudes’ to the
economic, social-cultural and physical impacts of tourism development in Buddhist
temples in Thailand. It was found in this study that residents tend to recognise
tourism benefits and are less interested with its costs or impacts.
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Chmielewski (2005): The purpose of this research is to determine the likely effect of
cultural tourism, particularly religious tourism, and also ecotourism, on its toured
human subjects, in the ethnically Tibetan village of Jisha in Yunnan, China that plans
to open and run its own tourism enterprise.
Harahsheh, Morgan and Edwards (2007): The paper reports on research into the
image of Jordan as a tourist destination by British and Swedish people. It studies the
influence of the image according to the religious beliefs and tradition of the tourists.
The survey was made in Borlänge (Sweden) and Bournemouth (England).
Collins-Kreiner (2006): In this study, a field trip and observation at the Galilee holy
sites, Nazareth and Jerusalem, was carried out in the summer and fall of 2003 to find
out what were the effects of the declining number of tourists on the Christian sacred
sites in the Galilee and Jerusalem.
Pernecky (2004): This thesis, called the dawn of new age tourism: an analysis of
Aotearoa studies the phenomenon of new age tourism in New Zealand. Spirituality,
religious tourism, pilgrimage and sacred sites are part of this study. This provides as
well, an overview of New Zealand, as a new age tourist destination.
Post, Pieper and Uden (1998): The case study presented in the book is about the
Way of the pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela and their spiritual experiences. They
used the “trigger-words” research method, gathering several concepts potentially
meaningful for pilgrims walking to Santiago de Compostela such as backpack,
stamp, tiredness, landscape, feet, prayer and staff. The results showed up the
different types of pilgrims and their different spiritual experiences.
Santos (2002): Santos examined pilgrimage and tourism at Santiago de Compostela
and argued that there was a little difference between pilgrims and tourists despite
efforts by religious groups to make this distinction and to set an abstract definition of
pilgrim in this context. Santos found that the majority of visitors to Santiago de
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Compostela and travellers along the Way of Santiago were simply tourists curious
about the route and the city of Santiago de Compostela.
Shinde (2006): This paper, presented in Belfast in a conference which theme was
‘Tourism and the Roots/Routes of Religious Festivity’ covers information about
pilgrimage, tourism, and religious tourism at sacred sites in India. This paper
explores movement of pilgrimage into an organised and formal industry of religious
tourism through study of Vrindavan, a sacred site visited by more than 3.5 million
people in North India.
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CHAPTER 3 THE WAY TO SANTIAGO
3 CHAPTER 3 THE WAY TO SANTIAGO
3.1 History of The Way of Santiago
Many researchers have explained the history of Santiago de Compostela (For
example, Coleman (2004); Esteve (2000); Jácome and Gonzalez (1992); Klaus
(1986); Picaus (2004)) But referring to Gonzalez and Camilo (1999), they stated the
history of The Way of Santiago explaining how at a time, when Europe needed to be
united, the Way to Santiago was the first element that made it possible. The find of
the sepulchre of the first Apostle Martyr became an unquestionable symbol,
compatible with the diverse conceptions of the Christians.
Conscious of the importance of having the relics of Santiago el Mayor, the Spanish
Monarchies contributed significantly to the success of the holy route. In those times
the peninsula had a growing need for money and soldiers to fight against the
Moorish.
The kings of Aragon, Navarre and Castile made a great effort to attract to their
possessions powerful rich people, and to that end, employed all possible means:
interchange of presents, arranged marriages and the announcements of the favours
dispensed by the Apostle. As the faith in the miracles performed by Santiago
extended people began to make pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela in order to
obtain his grace.
The first known pilgrim was Gotescalco, Bishop of Puy, who made the pilgrimage in
950 accompanied by his retinue; later the route was to be followed by the Marquis of
Gothia, who was murdered on the way; a century later, the Apostle’s tomb was
visited by the Archbishop of Lyon. And along these distinguished pilgrims, a
growing number of believers of all conditions travelled in the same route.
The Way to Santiago has indissolubly connected the culture, the knowledge and the
information. Everything that was said, preached, told, sung, sculpted or painting
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CHAPTER 3 THE WAY TO SANTIAGO
along the Route was known to more people and places. On account of its influence
on literature and art, Compostela, along with Rome or Jerusalem, became a place of
cult for Christian society, especially between the 11 and 14 century.
3.2 Pilgrims on the route
Along the routes to Santiago de Compostela have walked people of all stamps and
conditions: honest, pilgrims, convicts, minstrels, beggars, adventurers, tramps, and
even fugitives.
The religious people made the pilgrimage urged by their unrestrained need to visit
the tomb of the Apostle Santiago and to begin a personal relationship with him.
Other pilgrims made the journey in order to fulfil a promise made to the Apostle after
they overcame a difficult situation.
Among these were those who had been seriously ill, and others that came in search
of a miraculous recovery. There were also convicts who made the pilgrimage as a
punishment, imposed either by the ecclesiastical authorities or civil judges.
Jácome and Gonzalez (1992) explain how robbers, unscrupulous merchants and
rascals could also be found. The number of pilgrims increased when the Pope Calixto
II established the Jubilee in 1122. This meant that all penitent travellers who set out
on pilgrimage in Holy Years -when the feast day, 25 July, fell on a Sunday- and
fulfilled the requirements would get jubilee indulgences. As a consequence, the
number of pilgrims that made the way in the 12C rose surprisingly to 200,000.
According to official statistics, the number of pilgrims in the Way of Santiago
increased from 100.733 pilgrims in 2006 to 110.538 in 2007.
Nowadays, people from all over the world come to Spain to do the Way of Santiago
as part of the tradition, because of their religious beliefs, or just to have fun and meet
new people. Countries like Brazil, Canada, England, United States, France, Italy,
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CHAPTER 3 THE WAY TO SANTIAGO
Germany, Norway or Portugal have web pages where the pilgrims tell their stories
along their Way to Santiago.
3.3 The different routes
There are different Ways to Santiago that start from different points. Yzquierdo
(2003) gathers the information about nine different routes to do the Way of Santiago:
3.3.1 French Way
Is the pilgrim route par excellence and it has two different branches, depending on
the point of entry from France.
Starting with the main French Way, the pilgrims travel more than 770 Kilometres in
Spain, having reached Saint Jean Pied de Port in France. This route passes through
the Spanish provinces of Navarre, La Rioja, Burgos, Palencia, Leon, Lugo and A
Coruña. This route usually takes about 30 days to reach Santiago de Compostela with
an average of 25 km. per day.
The route began to be signposted with yellow arrows in the eighties, thanks to the
parish priest of O Cebreiro, and the association of the friends of the Navarre Way.
This first symbol is now accompanied by milestones and the institutional signs of
each region.
Further information about the stage of the French Way can be found in the Appendix
2.
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CHAPTER 3 THE WAY TO SANTIAGO
Map 3.3.1 French Way
Source: http://www.caminodesantiago.org
3.3.2 Aragonese way
This Way enters Spain from France via Somport, in Aragon, and continues through
the provinces of Huesca, Saragossa and Navarre before reaching Puene la Reina,
after 6 days and 167 km., where it joins the French Way
Map 3.3.2 Aragonese Way
Source: http://www.caminodesantiago.org
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CHAPTER 3 THE WAY TO SANTIAGO
3.3.3 Primitive Way
The first devotees from Oviedo, the capital of the Asturian kingdom, followed the
ancient route that, according to the tradition, led King Alfonso II he Chaste to the
Apostle’s tomb in the first third of the 9 th century.
This route from Oviedo to Santiago de Compostela was a safe itinerary that was
frequented until well into the 10 th century, when the French Way was consolidated
from Leon, the new capital of the Kingdom. However, after it was still an important
alternative, especially due to the spiritual value that was attributed to visiting the
Holy Chamber of the Saviour of Oviedo, as well as the Cathedral of Lugo, with its
permanent exhibition of the Holy Sacrament.
For more information, see Appendix 3.
Map 3.3.3 Primitive Way
Source: http://www.caminodesantiago.org
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CHAPTER 3 THE WAY TO SANTIAGO
3.3.4 North Way
Almost immediately after the discovery of the tomb of Saint James in the 9 th century,
pilgrims began following the Asturian-Galician ways in order to research Santiago de
Compostela, since the Castilian plateau, which would be subsequently crossed by the
French Way, was occupied by the Moors. The route enables the pilgrims, who had
come overland from France or disembarked in Basque, Cantabrian or Galician ports,
to combine the traditional visit to the Saviour in the Cathedral of Oviedo or continue
along the Asturian coast as far as the Ria del Eo.
More information about the stages of the North Way can be found in the Appendix 4.
Map 3.3.4.1 North Way
Source: http://www.caminodesantiago.org
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CHAPTER 3 THE WAY TO SANTIAGO
Map 3.3.4.2 North Way (Coastal)
Source: http://www.caminodesantiago.org
3.3.5 Portuguese Way
There are numerous routes, depending on the starting point in Portugal of the
pilgrims, but the main itinerary starts in Oporto and enters Spain via Tui. The
international Valença do Miño-Tui bridge has facilitated the crossing of the River
Miño, but some branches still cross the river by boat. Other Portuguese routes reach
the Spanish border via Chaves, Bragança and inside Galicia, join the Via de la Plata,
known as the Silver Road that will be explained later on. The Galician itinerary has
116 kilometers.
The Appendix 5 shows more information related to the stages of the Portuguese Way
Map 3.3.5 Portuguese Way
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CHAPTER 3 THE WAY TO SANTIAGO
Source: http://www.caminodesantiago.org
3.3.6 English Way
The European pilgrims that travelled by ship to the northern coast of the Iberian
Peninsula, especially the British, disembarked in A Coruña or Ferrol, after heading
for Compostela along the routes shown in the map. In the Appendix 6, further
information about the stages of the English Way is given.
Map 3.3.7 English Way
Source: http://www.caminodesantiago.org
3.3.7 Silver way
The Via de la Plata is longest Jacobean route, as a prolongation of the Roman road
that crossed the western Iberian Peninsula from south to north, linking the cities of
Emerita Augusta, in Merida, and Asturica Augusta, in Astorga. After the conquest of
Seville and Cordoba in the 13 th century, the Silver road was spontaneously reused by
Jacobean pilgrims from Andalusia and Extremadura. Some continued as far as
Astorga, joining the French Way. Others headed towards Compostela via the route
from Puebla de Sanabria to Ourense, which was shorter and straighter, while some
crossed northeast Portugal and entered the south of Ourense province towards Verin.
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CHAPTER 3 THE WAY TO SANTIAGO
See Appendix 7 for more detailed information.
Map 3.3.7 Silver way
Source: http://www.caminodesantiago.org
3.3.8 Arousa sea and Ulla river; Jacobean itinerary
This sea-river route via the ria de Arousa and the Ulla river, commemorates the
arrival by sea, of the body of St. James in Galicia, the region where he had preached.
According to the tradition, the boat enters the ria and sailed up the Ulla river, arriving
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CHAPTER 3 THE WAY TO SANTIAGO
at the Roman city of Iria Flavia, as remembers today by a sea-river precession to
Pontecesures and Padron (See Appendix 8).
Map 3.3.8.1 Via Sanxenxo
Source: http://www.caminodesantiago.org
Map 3.3.8.2 Via Ribeira
Source: http://www.caminodesantiago.org
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CHAPTER 3 THE WAY TO SANTIAGO
3.3.9 Finisterre Way
If all roads lead to Santiago de Compostela, this one, the Finisterre Way, is the only
one originating in the holy city. The visit to the Holy Christ of Finisterre and the
Sanctuary of A Barca, in Muxia, surrounded by the impressive landscape of the
ancient End of the Land, finis terrae, is a ritual followed by many pilgrims to round
off the Jacobean Pilgrimage (See Appendix 9).
Map 3.3.9 Finisterre Way
Source: http://www.caminodesantiago.org
3.4 History of Santiago de Compostela
As Esteve (2002) states, until the 9th century, the city of Santiago de Compostela did
not exist as such. However, archaeological excavations have shown that the present-
day location of the old town was the site, in antiquity, of a Roman town that acquired
certain importance and remained until the 7th century, forming part of the Swabian
kingdom during some time.
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CHAPTER 3 THE WAY TO SANTIAGO
In the 1st century, alongside the walled enclosure of the Roman “civitas”, a pagan
mausoleum was erected that subsequently gave rise to the cathedral. It has been
demonstrated that, in that same century, three Christian martyrs were buried in the
mausoleum, which became an established centre of worship, as shown by the nearby
Christian cemetery that was used until the 7th century.
During the early 9th century (the year 813 is the most probable), the bishop of Iria
Flavia, Teodomiro, was taken by a hermit called Pelagio to examine the mausoleum,
which he recognised as that of the Apostle James; he based his opinion on the oral
tradition according to which St. James had preached in Spain’s “finis terrae”,
thereafter being martyred on returning to Palestine. His disciples Atanasio and
Teodoro brought his decapitated body back; according to legend, they disembarked
in Iria Flavia, 20 km away, and took it to Monte Libredón, where they buried it in a
stone chest.
The Asturian king Alfonso II travelled from Oviedo with all of his court and
recognised the existence of the Apostle James’ tomb. At that very moment, he made
James the patron saint of his kingdom, turning the place into a centre of worship
capable of uniting Western Christendom against the Moors’ expansion. The city’s
foundation dates from the year 830. Santiago’s first church was also built –a simple
construction housing the mausoleum from Roman times.
3.5 World Heritage
Santiago de Compostela was declared a World Heritage City by UNESCO in 1985,
in view of its urban beauty and monumental integrity, as well as the profound echoes
of its spiritual significance as an apostolic sanctuary and the destination of the
Middle Ages' most important religious and cultural movement: the Way of St. James
pilgrimage.
Statement from the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS 1985)
for the inclusion of Santiago de Compostela in the World Heritage list:
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CHAPTER 3 THE WAY TO SANTIAGO
“Being an extraordinary monument set grouped around the tomb of Santiago
the Greater one, and destination of all the routes of the greater peregrination of the
Christianity between centuries XI and XVIII, Santiago de Compostela is undoubtedly
one of the most unquestionable properties inherited from parents of the Humanity.
This city, due to its monumental integrity, reunites specific and universal values. To
the unique character of its different masterpieces and the transcendental aesthetic
contribution is added that makes use of diachronic elements. The nature of this city
of Christian peregrination, enriched by the ideological connotations of the
Reconquest, has its echo in the enormous spiritual meaning of one of the few deeply
places of faith as to become asylums for all the Humanity (...)”
The Way of St. James was, in effect, declared a World Heritage Route by UNESCO
eight years later in 1993.
3.6 Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, conceived as a small city of stone centred
on holy relics and endowed with its own life, has evolved with vitality through the
years, resulting in today’s heterogeneous building of different historical styles and
artistic tendencies that have been successively superimposed.
The Romanesque Cathedral, designed according to the French model of pilgrimage
churches, was erected (1075-1211) on the site of the first churches that were built in
the place where the Apostle’s ashes appeared, the last of which was destroyed by
Almanzor in the summer of 997. The boom of the pilgrimages and the riches of one
of the Iberian Peninsula’s biggest feudal estates enabled the beginning of the
cathedral’s construction during the episcopacy of Diego Peláez. The building has a
traditional Latin-cross ground plan with three naves. The ambulatory surrounds the
High Altar in order to provide access to the relics by means of a small transversal
corridor where the apostolic ashes are kept. The naves have cruciform pillars with
annexed columns. Elegant semicircular arches are used to delimit the volumes. The
gallery was built on top of the side naves, all along the cathedral’s length, the arms of
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CHAPTER 3 THE WAY TO SANTIAGO
the transept and the ambulatory. The exterior part, or triforium, consists of arcades
with sections formed by two smaller arches. The gallery is a characteristic
construction of pilgrimage churches due to the need for increasing the capacity in
order to accommodate a large number of visitors. The central nave is 97 m long and
20 m high; it is covered by barrel vaults and the side naves by groined vaults. The
present-day Gothic dome replaced the old Romanesque tower that was erected above
the High Altar. Below the dome there is the structure that was designed in the 16th
century in order to operate the “botafumeiro”, a large censer made of silver-plated
brass that flies from one end of the transept to the other and which was used to purify
the atmosphere when the pilgrims slept inside the cathedral. The building has three
doors: Azabachería, Platerías and the one leading to the Porch of Glory from Praza
do Obradoiro.
A tour was designed according to which the cathedral was to be accessed via the
north door, formerly called the Door of Paradise, thereafter going through the
transept as far as the High Altar and ambulatory in order to visit the Apostle’s tomb
and subsequently entering the east arm with sculptural iconography based on the
New Testament.
3.7 Cultural Tourism in Santiago de Compostela
Gaztelumendi (2006) exposes in his paper how cultural tourism could increase in
Santiago de Compostela thanks to be a religious sacred site place. He exposes how
the increase of the demand creates great opportunities, and the increase of the supply
carries a big competency. Therefore a new creative, realistic and active strategy
should be done to increase the cultural tourism there.
The competitive advantages that Santiago de Compostela has are for example the
label of religious tourism place, but also is also an historical place, not only because
of the Christianity but also for the Celtic culture, where ancient rests can be found in
Santiago de Compostela and their proximities. But these attractions are not enough to
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CHAPTER 3 THE WAY TO SANTIAGO
increase the cultural tourism, thus there is a need to make these resources become
products, and these products became marketable supply.
Gaztelumendi (2006) explains how this strategy in focused on two directions:
One, the national market offering a major product diversification, especially to those
cities which are more accessible such as Madrid, Catalonia or Valencia.
And the second direction to the international market with special priority to France,
Germany, Italy, Benelux and Great Britain.
Therefore, Santiago de Compostela must show a new and renovated image, more
modern, youth with vitality in order to create an image with more variety and not
only focused on religion and religious tourism.
According to Gaztelumendi (2006) this strategy should carry as well a lot of develop,
specially in tourist products such as a tourist bus, tourist train, or 48hours cards with
discounts in Museums and transportation, in order to improve the tourism in Santiago
de Compostela.
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CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGY
4 CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGY
4.1 Sample
In this study, a structured convenient questionnaire was designed and asked to 489
visitors randomly close to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela at Plaza del
Obradoiro and Plaza de Platerias. These places were strategically chosen because
they are the two ways of entry into the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.
This sample took place between the 29-07-2007 and the 5-08-2007.
The specific case of Santiago de Compostela was chosen because Santiago is one of
the most important places of pilgrimage for Christianity; therefore, the sample will
analyse a common place for religious tourism consumers.
A copy of the questionnaire is enclosed in the Appendix 1.
4.2 Data collection source
Primary and secondary data sources were used to research in this study.
4.2.1 Secondary data sources
Secondary data sources are those sources which were written or used already by
other writers. In this case can be considered secondary data sources such as statistics,
thesis, studies, journals, newspapers, reports, conferences, maps, books,
encyclopaedias,
All the information gathered on web pages is also considered as secondary data
sources.
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CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGY
4.2.2 Primary data sources
Primary data sources are considered as the collection of facts that are gathered from
the original sources and are collected especially for the research problem.
Quantitative research, which covers the information collected direct from people
through questionnaires, or qualitative research, which covers the information
collected direct from people through interviews.
4.2.2.1 Quantitative research
When quantitative methods are applied measure characteristics or variables that can
take numerical values and must be described to facilitate the search of possible
relations by means of the statistical analysis.
Here the random, quasi-experimental techniques experimental, tests of pencil and
paper, studies of sample are used "objective", etc. Within all the analyses of the
quantitative methods we can find a characteristic based on the positivism like
epistemological source, that is the emphasis in the precision of the procedures for the
measurement, as well as the relation clear between the concepts and the indicators
with which they are moderate, to avoid the confusions that the use of a dark language
generates, that in spite of being seductive, is difficult to verify its veracity (Walle
1997).
Another predominant characteristic of the quantitative methods is the subjective
selection of indicators (through concepts and variables) of certain elements of
processes, facts, structures and people.
These elements do not conform in their totality, the processes or the people (the
debate between the pro-quantitative who never see an integrated phenomenon, but
always joint is derived there from particles of the phenomena related to the
observation, and the pro-qualitative that cannot perceive the generated elements that
share the phenomena).
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CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGY
Nevertheless, the new quantitative techniques, like the analysis of social networks
(e.g. Scott, 2000), or the history of events, is to a certain extent able to surpass these
limitations. The previous thing is related to one third characteristic also born of the
positivism that is the search of the generalization.
4.2.2.2 Qualitative research
Consists of detailed descriptions of situations, events, people, interactions and
behaviours that are observable. It incorporates what the participants say, his
experiences, attitudes, beliefs, thoughts and reflections as they are expressed by
themselves and not as one describes them.
As Walle (1997) states, one of the most important characteristics of the qualitative
techniques of investigation is that they try to catch the sense that the people give their
acts, to their ideas, and to the world that surrounds to them. They are considered
between the qualitative methods to the ethnography, the studies of case, the
interviews to depth, the participant observation and the investigation-action.
One first characteristic of these methods is pronounced in its strategy to try to meet
the facts, processes, structures and in its totality, and not through the measurement of
some of its elements (Walle 1997).
The same strategy already indicates the use of procedures that give a unique
character to the observations.
The second characteristic is the use of procedures that make the observations in the
time and different cultural circumstances less comparable, that is to say, this method
looks for except the generalization and more approaches the phenomenology and the
symbolic interactions.
One third important strategic characteristic for this work (since it feels bases for the
method of the participative investigation), talks about to the paper of the investigator
David Mashhadigholam Rojo 41

CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGY
in its deal - intensive with the people involved in the investigation process, to
understand them.(Walle 1997)
4.2.2.3 Pros and Cons
The use of these methods has always made researches decline to use one of them and
focus their research either using qualitative or quantitative, here it can be seen some
of their differences and afterwards, be able to decide which one adjusts better to the
research
The main disadvantage of qualitative research is that its results can not be applied to
wider populations with the same degree of certainty which quantitative methods can.
This is because the results of the research are not tested to find out whether they are
statistically significant or due to chance. Otherwise, its data collection and analysis
could be carried on an intensive and time-consuming way. (Babbie 2004)
Once using quantitative research may be found out that it sometimes forces to
response or may put people into categories that might not fit in order to get the
information. On the other hand, qualitative sometimes focuses too closely on
individual results and fails when making connections to larger situations or causes of
the results.
The involvement of words belongs to the qualitative research and numbers to the
quantitative. All quantitative research is deductive, needs a hypothesis in order to be
researchable, not as the qualitative, that is inductive and doesn’t need a hypothesis,
just centres the aim of the research.
The role of the researcher plays also a big importance when talking about qualitative
and quantitative. In quantitative research, is just an objective observer that doesn’t
participate in what is being studied. In qualitative research, the researcher can even
learn from it, participating in a subjective way, and getting all the information that is
being processed. It can generate completely rich and detailed data and leave the
David Mashhadigholam Rojo 42

CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGY
perspective of the participants intact, providing a context for their behaviour. (Stern
2004)
A stage of qualitative research is often a precursor for quantitative analysis, since
before linguistic phenomena can be classified and counted; the categories for
classification must first be identified.
Another problem for the quantitative research is that it may not count the variables
that can appear that change the human behaviour, although the information gather is
much richer than the one we get when using the qualitative research. When using
qualitative research, it may have richness and precision, but quantitative research
appears as statistically reliable and with general results. (Stern 2004).
Some researchers believe that qualitative and quantitative methodologies cannot be
combined because the assumptions underlying each tradition are really different.
Other researchers think they can be used in combination only by alternating both
methods.
Qualitative research is appropriate to answer certain kinds of questions in certain
conditions and quantitative is when you have to cover a wide range of people.
Other researchers then think that both qualitative and quantitative methods can be
used simultaneously to answer a research question.
4.3 Limitations
The limitations of this research can be found both, in primary and secondary data
research. To start with, limitations on secondary data were found because of the lack
on references concerning religious tourism. Collins-Kreiner (2006) explains how
only one book has been published specifically looking at tourism and religion
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CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGY
(Vukonic 1996), in spite of the fact that religious tourism has great economic
potential.
Time has been the major limitation of this research. More time would have enable a
thorough research with interviews to people in charge of the tourism in Santiago de
Compostela or people in charge of the Hotel industry in order to get further
conclusions.
Financial resources have acted as well as a limitation. A longer period in Santiago de
Compostela would have increased the number of the sample or the use of a
quantitative research.
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CHAPTER 5 MAIN FINDINGS
5 CHAPTER 5 MAIN FINDINGS
5.1 Analyses of the variables
A structured convenient questionnaire was asked at random to 489 visitors of
Santiago de Compostela and especially to Santiago’s Cathedral since the
questionnaires were asked at Plaza del Obradoiro and Plaza de Platerias. It is
important to mention that most of the interviewees were, in its majority (93%) in the
range of 25 – 40 years old.
The program SPSS has been used in this dissertation in order to analyse all the
different tables with their different variables.
Table 5.1.1 Sex
Variable Frequency Percent
Male
Female
Total
250 51,1
239 48,9
489 100,0
In this sample, more males were asked than women. As the survey was made
randomly. This table gives only information about the sample. The data obtained
shows that there is not a real relation between the sex and visiting a sacred site,
therefore an inner analysis will be done with a cross-tabulation table later on with
another variables.
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CHAPTER 5 MAIN FINDINGS
Table 5.1.2 Place of Residence
Variable Frequency Percent
Galicia
Rest of Spain
Other countries
Total
50 10,2
336 68,7
103 21,1
489 100,0
In this analysis, the table shows that people coming from Galicia, is the people who
visit less Santiago de Compostela.
68,7% of the interviewees, most of the visitors, were people belonging to another
cities in Spain. This shows that Santiago de Compostela stays as one of the more
important sacred sites in the culture and the tradition of Spain fomenting the religious
tourism. Just a 21,1% of the interviewees were people from outside Spain. Most of
them coming from Germany (68%) and France (19%).
Table 5.1.3 Level of studies
Variable Frequency Percent
Primary Studies
Secondary Studies
University Studies
Total
138 28,2
187 38,2
164 33,5
489 100,0
In this sample, there was not a clear difference among the different. The data
obtained shows that there is not a real relation between the level of studies and
visiting a sacred site, but still a cross-tabulation table will be done, to find out more
data in detail.
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CHAPTER 5 MAIN FINDINGS
Table 5.1.4 Who did you travel with?
Variable Frequency Percent
Alone
Family
Friends
Others
Total
51 10,4
257 52,6
155 31,7
26 5,3
489 100,0
In this table can be observed that most of the visitors coming to Santiago de
Compostela, come with their families (52,6%). Despite of the fact that Santiago is
not a typical tourist destination in Spain where sun and beach tourism is the most
frequented, most of the visitors came with their families, because of the already
mentioned Spanish religious tradition. A 31,7% travelled with friends, and it is
important to mention that most of the people who travelled alone, were coming from
the way of Santiago. When others is mentioned (5,3%) is referred to workmates in
the entire sample.
Table 5.1.5 Number of people in the journey
Variable Frequency Percent
2
3 – 4
5 – 6
7 OR more
Total
Missing
Total
67 13,7
213 43,6
127 26,0
31 6,3
438 89,6
51 10,4
489 100,0
In this table can be observed that the number of people in the journey was in its
majority
David Mashhadigholam Rojo 47

CHAPTER 5 MAIN FINDINGS
3 – 4 with a 43,6%, which is the average of the familiar unity in Spain. As the table
shows a 26% was consisting with people between 5 – 6 members, which belong to
Friends in its majority.
Table 5.1.6 Duration of the stay
Variable Frequency Percent
1 – 2
3
4 – 5
6 – 10
10 OR more
Total
171 35,0
164 33,5
106 21,7
34 7,0
14 2,9
489 100,0
Santiago de Compostela is a small city; therefore a couple of days are needed to visit
the city with all their tourist attractions. As visiting the cathedral is one of the main
things people just do in Santiago. Just 1 or 2 days was the main answer with a 35%
following 3 days with a 33%. Only a 2,9 % stayed more than 10 days, and most of
them were students studying in Santiago de Compostela.
Table 5.1.7 Type of accommodation
Variable Frequency Percent
Hotel
Hostel
Own house
Relatives and friends house
Rented house
Camping
Rural house
Oficial tourist appartment
113 23,1
149 30,5
77 15,7
88 18,0
8 1,6
40 8,2
5 1,0
4 0,8
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CHAPTER 5 MAIN FINDINGS
Others
Total
5 1,0
489 100,0
This table shows the type of accommodation that the visitors chose during their stay
in Santiago de Compostela. Hostel was the first choice with a 30,5%. Most of visitors
who chose hostels came with friends or with groups. Hotels was the second choice
with a 23,1% of the visitors. In the Table 5.1.8, the quality of the hotels will be
analysed. The rest of the variables were not really significant with an 18% staying at
relatives or friends’ house, 15,7% with their own house (most of them people living
there) and then people staying at camping with 8,2%.
Table 5.1.8 If the answer is hotel specify
Variable Frequency Percent
1 Star
2 Stars
3 Stars
4 Stars
5 Stars
Total
Missing
Total
9 1,8
29 5,9
52 10,6
22 4,5
1 0,2
113 23,1
376 76,9
489 100,0
This table shows the quality of the hotels were the visitors stayed during their trip to
Santiago de Compostela. From 113 visitors choosing hotel as their accommodation,
52 visitors stayed at a 3 stars hotel, 29 visitors at 2 stars hotel and 22 at 4 stars hotel.
David Mashhadigholam Rojo 49

CHAPTER 5 MAIN FINDINGS
Table 5.1.9 Way of entry to Santiago
Variable Frequency Percent
Air
Land
Way of Santiago
Total
170 34,8
193 39,5
126 25,8
489 100,0
Most of them came to Santiago de Compostela by train, bus or car with a 39,5%, or
by plane with a 34,8%. The 25,8% did the Way of Santiago and came to the city
walking as pilgrims by the different routes. The number of pilgrims shows how the
pilgrimage in the Way of Santiago is increasing. As an additional fact, in 2007,
110.538 pilgrims have already done the Way of Santiago.
Table 5.1.10 Visiting the Cathedral is your
Variable Frequency Percent
Main reason
Additional reason
Total
301 61,6
188 38,4
489 100,0
This table shows that a 61,6% of the visitors came to Santiago de Compostela just to
visit the Cathedral, which means that Santiago, and specially the Cathedral has still
an important relevance for consumers of religious tourism in the Catholicism.
For those whose main reason was not visiting the Cathedral (38,4%), visiting the
city, get to know more about the Spanish culture (for those travelling from abroad),
businesses, or even shopping were the most common answers from the interviewees.
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CHAPTER 5 MAIN FINDINGS
Table 5.1.11 Religion
Variable Frequency Percent
Religious
Nonreligious
Neutral
Total
246 50,3
115 23,5
128 26,2
489 100,0
In this table can be observed that most of the visitors describe themselves as
Religious (50,3%) with a strong religious belief whereas a 26,2% are Neutral, which
means that find themselves catholic but with a weak religious belief. The rest 23,5%
describe themselves as nonreligious, fact that in spite of being a low rate, shows that
people being nonreligious also travel to sacred sites.
Table 5.1.12 Cross tabulation: Religion/ Way of entry to Santiago
Religión Total
Way of entry to Santiago Religious Nonreligious Neutral
Air
Land
Way of Santiago
Total
90 34 46 170
94 48 51 193
62 33 31 126
246 115 128 489
In this table, how many visitors did the Way of Santiago according to their religion is
analysed. As it can be observed 62 visitors with a strong religious belief did the Way
of Santiago and were influenced by religious motivations. But the most important
fact is that from 115 visitors who responded that they were nonreligious, 33 of them
did as well the Way of Santiago, fact that expose that is not necessary the belief or
having religious motivation to do the incredible journey of the Way of Santiago.
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CHAPTER 5 MAIN FINDINGS
Table 5.1.13 Cross tabulation: Level of studies/Religion
Level of studies Total
Religion Primary Secondary University
Religious
Non religious
Neutral
Total
78 98 70 246
28 41 46 115
32 48 48 128
138 187 164 489
In the table 5.1.13, the level of studies is mixed with the religion, to find out any
important relevance. To start with, there is the fact that people with lower level of
studies have a stronger belief, as it can be appreciated, from 138 visitors who had just
primary level of studies, 78 were religious, only 28 nonreligious and 32 were neutral,
which means, religious but with a weak belief.
5.2 Hypothesis Results
There are several hypotheses to test; to start with the first hypothesis states: most of
the people who travel to a sacred site or to a place of pilgrimage are religious in
their majority, and travel because of religious motivations.
To test this hypothesis the tables 5.1.10 and 5.1.11 will be examined. First, table
5.1.10 shows that from all the 489 visitors asked, 301 came to Santiago mainly to
visit the Cathedral. This fact does not show their religion but shows how important is
the image of the Cathedral of Santiago as a sacred site. There were nonreligious
people whose main reason was visit the Cathedral but with another aim, in this case,
most of them confirmed that their motivations were the history of the Cathedral, its
architecture or even the culture and traditions of the place, such as the Botafumeiro.
To answer the hypothesis then table 5.1.11 must be analysed. In this table the
religion of the visitors was asked in order to answer the hypothesis weather sacred
sites is mainly visited by religious people in their majority. From 489 visitors, 246
David Mashhadigholam Rojo 52

CHAPTER 5 MAIN FINDINGS
(50,3%) were religious with a strong belief, the rest 115 nonreligious, and 128
neutral, with a weak belief.
These results shows that there is almost no significance between people who visit a
sacred site with a strong belief and therefore according to their faith or other
religious motivations, and those with weak and nonreligious belief.
This fact shows how religion tourism is not only a type of tourism consumed by
religious people but people with almost no religious belief are attracted also by
sacred sites, such as Santiago, not because of religious motivation, but attracted by
the culture of the place, its history, or as it was already stated, its architecture.
Therefore can be stated the hypothesis is rejected as almost no difference is
perceived between religious travellers and nonreligious visitors.
A second hypothesis states: Most of the pilgrims which did the Way of Santiago were
motivated by religion to do the pilgrimage.
To answer this hypothesis the cross tabulated table 5.1.12 was created to facilitate the
analysis. As in the table 5.1.9 can be seen that 126 visitors interview came directly
from the Way of Santiago, it means that a 25,8% came as pilgrims. According to the
religion of these visitors we can get the answer of this hypothesis.
In the table 5.1.12 can be observed that 62 pilgrims had a strong religious belief
versus 33 who stated that they considered themselves as nonreligious. 31 visitors had
a neutral position. In spite of the answer of some neutral people who said that they
had religious motives to do the pilgrimage, they were having a weak religious belief
though, this data shows that nowadays the relation between pilgrims and religion is
not affecting anymore as there were more nonreligious or people with a weak
religious belief than religious people. Although the difference is barely perceptible,
the number of pilgrims without religious believes is increasing. Nonreligious
pilgrims were asked why were they doing the pilgrimage, and most of them
David Mashhadigholam Rojo 53

CHAPTER 5 MAIN FINDINGS
responded as in the other hypothesis that as part of the Spanish tradition they felt
interested to do the Way of Santiago but not from the religious aspect of pilgrimage,
or from religious motivations.
According to Post et al (1998) young pilgrims, go on pilgrimage for recreation and to
meet other pilgrims.
Therefore can be stated that the second hypothesis is rejected as there was almost no
differentiation with the data, it also means that the number of pilgrims without a
religious belief is increasing.
A third hypothesis states: People with primary or secondary studies have a stronger
religious belief than people with university studies.
In order to test this third hypothesis will be necessary to refer to the table 5.1.3 and
the cross tabulated table 5.1.13. From the results can be observed that 138 visitors
had primary studies, 187 visitors had secondary studies and 164 had University
studies.
To answer this hypothesis we have to study the amount of visitors with lower level of
studies than university studies. Therefore as in the cross tabulated table 5.1.13 can be
seen how from 325 visitors mixing people with primary and secondary level of
studies, 176 visitors, 54 % were religious with a strong religious belief. From the
visitors with university studies can be found out that from 164 visitors, 70 were
religious, 42% of them had a strong religious belief, and the rest, 58%, had no, or
weak religious belief.
With these results can be stated that people with primary or secondary studies, are
more likely to have strong religious belief than people with university studies.
Therefore the last hypothesis is accepted.
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CHAPTER 5 MAIN FINDINGS
5.3 Research Results
All the analysis and all the results take the 489 visitors as consumers of religious
tourism not taking in consideration their religious belief.
• There is almost no difference between the sex of the visitors to sacred sites
51,1% men, and 48,9% women.
• 10,2% of the visitors interviewed came from Galicia, 68,7% from the rest
of Spain and a 21,1% from other countries.
• Referring the activities done during the stay in Santiago de Compostela, a
67% chose cultural activities such as sightseeing or visiting museums, only
a 30% decided to celebrate masses and other religious activities inside the
Cathedral.
• The level of studies of the sample does not stand out but still 164 visitors
had university studies, and the rest 325 had primary and secondary level of
studies.
• With a 52,6% could be appreciated that is common to travel to religious
sites with the family, in groups of 3 or 4 people staying in 3 stars hotels.
• Only a 0,2% stayed at 5 stars hotels.
• Just a 5,3% visited the city because of businesses and uses their spare time
in visiting the Cathedral.
• The main reason the visit Santiago de Compostela is to visit the Cathedral
with a 61,6% of responses.
• 30 visitors coming to Santiago de Compostela through the Way of Santiago,
did the pilgrimage alone, and 18 of them without any religious reason.
• Most of them with a 50,3% describe themselves as persons with a strong
religious belief.
• 68’5% of the visitors stayed at Santiago de Compostela between 1 and 3
days and only a 2’9% of the visitors said that they were staying more than
10 days.
• People interviewed from outside Spain, answered that their main reason to
visit Santiago de Compostela (for those whose main reason was not visiting
David Mashhadigholam Rojo 55

CHAPTER 5 MAIN FINDINGS
the Cathedral) was getting to know the tradition of the city and know more
Spanish cities.
• 33 visitors, who were nonreligious, did the Way of Santiago and came to
Santiago de Compostela for no religious reason at all.
• More women than men took part in the pilgrimage; from 126 pilgrims, 75
were women and 51 were men.
David Mashhadigholam Rojo 56

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
6 CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
6.1 Conclusion
All the investigations and analyses made in the present dissertation had the objective
to try to identify if an increase of nonreligious tourists in religious tourist destinations
exists at the present time. From this fact could be deduced that what is known
nowadays as religious tourism, after numerous centuries nourishing itself exclusively
of religious people that made a pilgrimage to religious places solely motivated by
their beliefs, has a clearly tendency towards the cultural tourism.
After having investigated the city of Santiago de Compostela as a religious tourism
destination, chosen for the elaboration of this thesis, and having analyzed in depth
the results of the interviews, the following conclusions show the study based on the
results obtained from the sample formed by 489 visitors:
The results obtained after the analysis, show that although the difference is not very
significant, most of the tourists interviewed are, or nonreligious tourists or tourist
with a weak religious belief. That is why the results suggest that religious sites are
not merely visited by religious tourists and that the motivation to choose a tourist
destination is not bound with the religion of the visitor.
The results of the analysis made also show that the number of religious and
nonreligious visitors who make the Way of Santiago is very similar. These results
suggest that the more the tourist does the Way of Santiago the less are they
influenced by religion or for being a religious tourist destination but also by personal
motivations such as getting to know the culture or the tradition or the motivations
from other people doing the Way of Santiago.
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CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
On the other hand, the results analyzed show that from all the visitors interviewed;
most of the people with university studies were nonreligious or neutral, with a weak
religious belief, versus those with primary or secondary studies with a strong
religious belief in their majority.
This result can be somehow disconcerting, since Santiago de Compostela is one of
the three more important places of pilgrimage of the Christian religion, since
Santiago de Compostela has one of the more important universities of Spain and
because Spain is a country with a strong religious tradition, would be appropriate to
think that the level of studies of the visitors should not to be directly related to the
fact weather they are religious or not.
In conclusion, after the whole analyse, the results suggest that religious tourism
nowadays, follows a clear tendency towards the cultural tourism, that the election of
a tourist destination is not directly bound to the religion of the visitor, and a religious
tourist destination continues being religious although the tourist is nonreligious or
has a weak religious belief.
6.2 Recommendations
Everything described in this dissertation, could be use both by the tourism industry
and for further research on religious tourism, specifically about the tourist destination
of Santiago de Compostela and its repercussion in the study of religious tourism.
6.2.1 Recommendations for the tourism industry
Being religious tourism one of the divisions of tourism, the analysis done and the
conclusions could be used by the tourism industry as it is described:
• In order to have information about the type of tourists that visit Santiago de
Compostela, concerning sex, place of residence, level of studies or cultural or
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CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
religious preferences. In this way the tourism industry could create new
products or develop the existing ones, adapting the preferences of the tourists.
• The Spanish hotel industry, with the analysis of the variables and the
conclusions made from the tables 5.1.7 and 5.1.8, could consider the study of
a modification in their prices in order to compare their prices from 1 star
hotels to the prices of the hostels, since the preferred place of accommodation
from the people interviewed was the hostel.
• After analysing the different ways to come to Santiago de Compostela, could
be appreciated that there is not a clear difference in the preference of the
tourists. In spite of this fact, could be interesting recommend a development
in the train infrastructure, having better connections with the main Spanish
cities, in order to increase the number of tourists in the area.
• As it was already shown in the analysis of the variables, only a 10,2% from
all the visitors were people coming from Galicia, therefore could be also
interesting a develop fomenting the tourism to Santiago de Compostela from
the board dedicated to the tourism in the area, in this case the Xunta of
Galicia.
• Another recommendation for the tourism industry would be studying the size
of the market, in order to improve the marketing strategies used in this type of
religious tourist destinations.
6.2.2 Recommendations for further research
After exposing some recommendations for the tourist industry, some descriptions for
further research are described next:
• According to the lack of literature about religious tourism (Collins-Kreiser
2006), this dissertation could beneficiate students or even researchers who
want to have a further view about religious tourism, pilgrimage, and the city
David Mashhadigholam Rojo 59

CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
of Santiago de Compostela, history of the Way of Santiago or the analysis
about the type of tourists that visit the city.
• After the analyses of the variables, one of the conclusions is the increase of
non religious tourists, or tourists with a weak religious belief into this
religious destination, Santiago de Compostela. Therefore, would be
recommendable further research in another pilgrimage sites or another
religious tourism destination in order to compare the results and get further
conclusions to make possible check if this increase is happening in other
religious destinations. As the present case-study has been done in Santiago de
Compostela using only factors concerning Christianity, would be strongly
recommendable a research on religious sites from other religions.
• The present research has only interviewed tourists, therefore would be also
recommendable to make further research, interviewing people in charge of
the hotel industry, travel agencies, tour operators, and people in charge of
fomenting the tourism in Santiago de Compostela and its surroundings.
David Mashhadigholam Rojo 60

APPENDICES
APPENDIX 1. Questionnaire
Questionnaire:
1. Sex
□ Male □ Female
2. Place of Residence
□ Galicia □ Rest of Spain □ Other countries
3. Who did you travel with?
□ Alone □ Family □ Friends □ Others
4. Number of people in the journey
□ 2 □ 3 – 4 □ 5 – 6 □7 – +
5. Duration of stay
□ 1 – 2 □ 3 □ 4 – 5 □ 6 – 10 □ + 10
6. Type of accommodation
□ Hotel □ Hostel □ Own house □ Relative and friend’s
□ Rented house □ Camping □ Casa rural
□ Official tourist apartment □ Other
7. If the answer is hotel
□ 1 Star □ 2 Stars □ 3 Stars □ 4 Stars □ 5 Stars
8. Way of entry to Santiago
□ Air □ Land □ Way of Santiago
9. Activities during the stay
□ Leisure activities □ Religious activities □ Nightlife
□ Concerts □ Nature □ Excursion □ Sightseeing
10. Visiting Santiago’s Cathedral
□ Main reason □ Additional reason
APPENDICES
11. If Visiting the Cathedral was the additional reason then which one the
main reason
…………………………………………………………………………………….
12. Religion
□ Religious □ Nonreligious □ Neutral
David Mashhadigholam Rojo 61

APPENDIX 2. Stages of the French Way
Way Date Stage Time First city Last city Time Hostel Footsteps Stage
km.
French
21-
10-
2003
French 22-
10-
2003
French 23-
10-
2003
French 24-
10-
2003
French 25-
10-
2003
APPENDICES
Extra
km.
0 18h30 Piedrafita O Cebreiro 19h30 O Cebreiro 6.300 5 - 1
1 08h30 O Cebreiro Triacastela 14h30 Triacastela 33.300 23 2 2
2 08h30 Triacastela Sarria 13h30 Sarria 35.300 19 6 3
3 08h30 Sarria Portomarín 15h00 Portomarín 37.500 23 5 4
4 9h Portomarín
Palas de
Rei
Source: http://www.caminoasantiago.com
APPENDIX 3. Stages of the Primitive Way
14h00 - 37.800 22 5 5
Way Date Stage Time First city Last city Time Hostel Footsteps Stage
km.
Primitive 1/10/2003 1 12h A
Fonsagrada
O
Cádabo
Extra
km.
Days
walking
David Mashhadigholam Rojo 62
19h
O
Cádabo
45.000 30 3 1
Primitive 2/10/2003 2 9h O Cádabo Lugo 18h Lugo 40.000 29 1 2
Primitive 3/10/2003 - - Lugo Lugo - Lugo 25.000 - 20 2
Primitive 4/10/2003 3 9h Lugo
Primitive/French 5/10/2003 4 8h30
Palas de
Rei
Palas de
Rei
17h30
Palas de
Rei
55.000 38 7 3
Ribadiso 17h Ribadiso 42.000 25 5 4
Primitive/French 6/10/2003 5 8h30 Ribadiso Santiago 20h - 68.000 42 - 5
Source: http://www.caminoasantiago.com
Days
walking

APPENDIX 4. Stages of the North Way
Way Date Stage Time First city Last city Time Hostel Footsteps Stage
km.
APPENDICES
Extra
km.
North 17/9/2003 0 14h La Coruña Ribadeo 17h Ribadeo 20.000 - 16 1
North 18/9/2003 1 9h Ribadeo Lourenzá 15h Lourenzá 45.000 30 6 1
North 19/9/2003 2 8h30 Lourenzá Villalba 19h Vilalba 60.000 46 2 2
North 20/9/2003 3 9h Villalba Baamonde 15h Baamonde 34.000 20 7 3
North 21/9/2003 4 8h30 Baamonde Miraz 13h
North
Casa
Parroquial
Miraz
22/9/2003 5 9h Miraz Sobrado 15h Monasterio
Sobrado
31.000 16 8 4
43.000 26 4 5
North 23/9/2003 6 8h30 Sobrado Arzúa 14h Arzúa 33.400 22 3 6
North
/French
North
/French
24/9/2003 7 9h Arzúa O Gozo 19h O Gozo 65.000 40 5 7
25/9/2003 8 8h30 O Gozo Santiago 11h - 15.000 4 8 8
Source: http://www.caminoasantiago.com
APPENDIX 5. Stages of the Portuguese Way
Way Date Stage Time First city Last city Time Hostel Footsteps Stage
km.
Portuguese
11-
10-
2003
Portuguese 12-
10-
2003
Portuguese 13-
10-
2003
Portuguese 14-
10-
2003
Portuguese 15-
10-
2003
Portuguese 16-
10-
2003
Portuguese 17-
10-
2003
Extra
km.
0 17h30 Tui Tui 20h30 Tui 23.153 - 15 1
1 09h30 Tui Porriño 15h00 Porriño 28.400 15 5 2
2 09h30 Porriño Redondela 16h00 Redondela 33.000 16 7 3
3 09h30 Redondela Pontevedra 17h00 Pontevedra 39.000 21 8 4
4 11h30 Pontevedra Caldas 18h00 - 35.830 21 4 5
5 12h00 Caldas Padrón 20h00 Padrón 32.700 21 2 6
6 10h00 Padrón Santiago 18h00 Santiago 43.300 23 5 6
Source: http://www.caminoasantiago.com
Days
walking
Days
walking
David Mashhadigholam Rojo 63

APPENDIX 6. Stages of the English Way
Way Date Stage Time First city Last city Time Hostel Footsteps Stage
km.
English 8-9-
2003
English 9-9-
2003
English 10-9-
2003
English 11-9-
2003
English 12-9-
2003
English 13-9-
2003
English 14-9-
2003
1 11h La
Coruña
APPENDICES
Extra
km.
Cambre 15h - 30.887 20 5 1
2 9h Anceis Bruma 13h30 - 31.856 20 5,5 2
3 18h Ferrol Neda 21h Neda 27.773 12 8 3
4 9h Neda Miño 19h Miño 49.841 28 6,5 4
5 9h Miño Betanzos 15h -- 28.548 19 -- 5
6 9h Betanzos Bruma 18h -- 46.922 26 6 6
7 9h Bruma Santiago 19h -- 45.541 30 -- 7
Source: http://www.caminoasantiago.com
Days
walking
David Mashhadigholam Rojo 64

APPENDIX 7. Stages of the Silver Way
Way Date Stage Time First city Last city Time Hostel Footsteps Stage
km.
Silver
30-
10-
2003
Silver 31-
10-
2003
Silver 1-
11-
2003
Silver 2-
11-
2003
Silver 3-
11-
2003
Silver 4-
11-
2003
Silver 5-
11-
2003
Silver 6-
11-
2003
APPENDICES
Extra
km.
0 09h00 A Coruña Verín 19h30 Verín 10.000 - 7.5 1
1 09h00 Verín Laza 15h30 Laza 31.500 18 5 2
2 09h00 Laza
3 09h00
Vilar de
Barrio
4 09h00 Xunqueira
de Ambia
Vilar de
Barrio
Xunqueira
de Ambia
14h30
Vilar de
Barrio
33.000 23 2 3
15h00 Xunqueira 30.500 14 8 4
Orense 14h00 Orense 45.000 22 12 5
5 09h00 Orense Cea 14h30 Cea 41.282 20 10 6
6 08h00 Cea Medelo 19h00 O Medelo 70.700 50 3 7
7 09h00 Medelo Santiago 16h30 - 47.500 33 2 8
Source: http://www.caminoasantiago.com
APPENDIX 8. Stages of the Jacobean Itinerary
Way Date Stage Time First city Last city Time Footsteps Stage
km.
Arousa Sea
and Ulla
River
Jacobean
Itinerary
Arousa Sea
and Ulla
River
Jacobean
Itinerary
09-
11-
2003
09-
11-
2003
Extra
km.
1 09h00 Ribeira Pontecesures 14h00 - 75 5 1
1 16h00 Pontecesures Santiago 21h00 40.000 25 - 1
Source: http://www.caminoasantiago.com
Days
walking
Days
walking
David Mashhadigholam Rojo 65

APPENDIX 9. Stages of the Finisterre Way
Way Date Stage Time First
city
Finisterre
Finisterre
Finisterre
Finisterre
Finisterre
Finisterre
10-
11-
2003
11-
11-
2003
12-
11-
2003
13-
11-
2003
14-
11-
2003
15-
11-
2003
Last city Time Hostel Footsteps Stage
km.
APPENDICES
Extra
km.
1 09h00 Santiago Negreira 14h00 Negreira 37.500 22 6 1
2 09h00 Negreira Olveiroa 17h00 Olveiroa 51.000 33 5 2
3 09h00 Olveiroa Muxia 18h00 Polideportivo
Muxía
- - Muxía Muxía -
Polideportivo
Muxía
55.000 30 11 3
8.000 - 6 3
4 09h00 Muxía Fisterra 17h00 Fisterra 53.000 35 5 4
5 10h00 Fisterra Cabo
Fisterra
Source: http://www.caminoasantiago.com
11h00 - 18.500 5 8 3
Days
walking
David Mashhadigholam Rojo 66

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