Religious tourism as a trend in the global and Russian tourism industry: the conceptual essence and development models

The article considers religious tourism as one of the most dynamically developing directions of tourism. The research hypothesis lies in the assumption that the concept of “religious tourism” is outdated, and today it is advisable to talk about “spiritual tourism”. Spiritual tourism is a broader concept that embraces traditional religious trips (including pilgrimage), but also takes into account all other important motives of tourists, including reasons for trips forming the so-called category of pseudo-religious types of tourism. They have been formed in the post-modern world based on integrating the components of various fields related to spiritual practices. To check the relevance and content of the hypothesis, the article analyzes the current trends of pilgrimage, religious and secular tourism, examines the views on the object of research of Russian and foreign scholars, examines the motives of modern religious travelers, attempts to determine the niche differentiation of religious tourism, and also considers certain features of sacred objects and religious tourism sites...