Religious-Spiritual Tourism and Promotional Campaigning: A Church-State Partnership for St. James and Spain

Abstract

Modern-day pilgrimages draw millions of faithful across the religious spectrum–both as pilgrims and as tourists–to sites considered sacred. This study, one of the first of its kind to examine religion and tourism from a public relations perspective, reviews a Church-State promotional campaign in Spain, Xacobeo 99, to attract pilgrims and tourists on an international scale to Santiago de Compostela (Galicia) and to the shrine of St. James the Apostle in the city's Cathedral. The shrine, which contains the relics of the saint–discovered in 813 A.D.–is considered one of the most important pilgrimage sites in the Christian world. Interviews of corporate figures, field observations, and content analysis of corporate media provide insight into campaign strategies, tactics, and messages and examine campaign results from an advertising, marketing, and public relations perspective.

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