New Ways Of Development For Religious Tourism Attractions – A Case Study Of Debrecen, Hungary

Religiously motivated travel is one of the oldest forms of tourism, which involves millions of people even today. However, churches are visited not only by believers but also by secular tourists who are motivated by learning about the history and culture of a religious building, monument or site. Many of Hungary’s diverse religious heritage sites now offer complex visitor experiences as a result of recent tourism developments. The primary aim of this paper is to demonstrate the opportunities of co-creating visitor experiences in churches and other religious tourism attraction through a case study approach. After a literature review on different aspects of religious tourism, three religious tourism attractions were examined, which may be considered as outstanding examples of the touristic use of religious heritage. A qualitative approach was utilized to explore the perspectives of tourism professionals concerning the interpretation of the church heritage. On-site observations and in-depth interviews with a tourism stakeholders (museum managers, guides of the exhibitions, museum pedagogy experts) were implemented to explore the potential of interpretation and experience co-creation at the chosen religious sites. The results indicate that the key to the survival of church heritage attractions is to incorporate modern innovations into museum practice, while respecting and complementing the heritage value. In the case of religious tourism, respect for sacred space is of paramount importance, and the tourism function should not negatively impact on the primary function of religious practice. Although the limitation of the present study lies in the fact that the demand side was investigated through on-site observation, the results may have implications for tourism experts working to find a second purpose for churches as tourism attractions.