Religious Tourism Motives and Experiences of Visitors to Selected Religious Sites in Camarines Sur, Philippines

In recent years, pilgrimage is considered as one of the growing activities of people in the world. In the
Philippines, the presence of numerous religious sites and activities makes it more significant in
promoting pilgrimage or religious tourism most particularly in Bicol region where the home of Ina
popularly known as Our Lady of Virgin Peñafrancia is located. Along this, it is deemed important to
further understand the intentions and behaviors of religious travelers. Hence, this paper assessed the
religious tourism motivational factors (religious and secular) and experiences of visitors to selected
sacred sites using a descriptive method of research. It was found that religious motives significantly
prevail as very important factors for visitors to set out on journey in comparison to secular motives
which is regarded as not very important travel motivator towards religious sites. This indicates that
religious visitors of the destination are motivated due to their intrinsic spiritual desire such as
satisfaction of religious convictions and fulfillment of religious curiosity (faith and practice). Their
experiences were mainly observed for spiritual participation (religious) rather than for tourism activity
(secular). This can also be noted that with the rise of travelers for religious tourism whether on
religious or secular motives, pilgrimage destinations and/or sites have become a multifunctional
nature that welcomes tourists in general. Therefore, it is very important to put balance between
visitors who came for religious and secular motives, thus recognizing the vital roles among churches’
administrators and a regional tourism organization is necessary.