Structuration and branding of a religious tourism product: catalonia sacra
Date
2013Abstract
This article aims to provide an overview of the products Catalonia has to offer in terms of religious
tourism. The growing interest in this kind of tourism worldwide, and in Catalonia itself, along with
the region’s wealth of religious heritage (particularly connected to the Christian Church) contrast with the
lack of religion-based tourism products available, which results in its absence from the region’s image as
a tourism destination. In view of this, the Faculty of Tourism (University of Girona), the Vic Bishopric’s
Albergueria-Centre for Cultural Dissemination and the Tarraconense Episcopal Conference’s Interdiocese
Secretariat for the Custody and Promotion of Holy Art (SICPAS) decided to address the situation with the
help of funding from the Autonomous Government of Catalonia.
In order to re-position Christian religious heritage in the image of Catalonia as a tourist destination,
the aforementioned parties embarked upon a project to set up a series of routes throughout the region,
branded under the name Catalonia Sacra.