Who Is Interested in Developing the Way of Saint James? The Pilgrimage from Faith to Tourism

The Way of St. James in Spain is the main European pilgrimage route. Currently, it is a cultural, tourist, monumental, spiritual, and sports route. For this reason, the paper aims to discuss the concept of the “Polysemy of The Way”, by analysing how the new pilgrims’ mo...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rossella Moscarelli, Lucrezia Lopez, Rubén Camilo Lois González
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-01-01
Series:Religions
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/1/24
Description
Summary:The Way of St. James in Spain is the main European pilgrimage route. Currently, it is a cultural, tourist, monumental, spiritual, and sports route. For this reason, the paper aims to discuss the concept of the “Polysemy of The Way”, by analysing how the new pilgrims’ motivations are creating an inclusive and complex space, which is making a shift from religious space to a multifaceted tourism reality. We study the characterisation and interaction of the new actors involved in its development, maintenance and promotion. As a result, its original “space of faith” is now a “live heritage space”, thanks to the rehabilitation of routes, monuments, and landscapes. The combination of these motivational and spatial transformations enhances the factors of post-secular pilgrimage, such as slow mobility, the liminality and the sense of community, which the same actors assume as priorities for territorial management.
ISSN:2077-1444