Editorial : conference proceedings, niche market formation for faith-based tourism

Abstract

There were many reasons why the International Conference on Niche Market Formation for Faith- Based Tourism: Issues and Policies in Faith-based Tourism Travel Business, was held in Malta. Worldwide, the faith-based tourism market is experiencing substantial growth and pilgrimage centres of different religions have been reporting increasing pilgrim numbers. In the last decade or so, visitor numbers connected to faith-based tourism have increased rapidly, contributing to a growing economic sector, notwithstanding the global financial and economic crises of the early twenty-first century. It was estimated that in 2018 there were 1.4 billion tourists globally, of whom approximately one-third travelled for religious purposes (UNWTO WT Barometer 2019). This would suggest that nearly one-third of the annual arrivals worldwide are linked to religious sites. However, this global growth of faith-based tourism and pilgrimage has hardly impinged on the structuring or niche-forming of inbound faith-based tourism to the Maltese archipelago, despite that in various periods of Maltese history, the islands were known as a pilgrim destination. While tourism is a vital pillar of the Maltese economy, notwithstanding its fully developed, tried and tested tourism infrastructure, up to now it has not managed to foster any significant faith-based tourism and to attract its share of pilgrimage tourists.