Promoting faith-based tourism products in selected sacred spaces of south western Nigeria

Abstract

Travel for religious-related purposes – faith-based tourism is gradually becoming a renowned form of tourism globally. Experiencing this type of tourism has turned sacred spaces into tourist destination where visitors participate in different faith-based tourism products or activities. These are pilgrimages and dynamic ritual performances wherein the powers of spiritual entities are invoked and utilized by man. The efficacy of such activities in attracting huge tourist traffic is highly beneficial to sacred spaces economy. Despite, this positive impact, the consumption of faith-based tourism products are beset with challenges which militates its growth. To address the issue, this paper employed ethnographic research to investigate the challenging factors of faith-based tourism products of three sacred spaces (Redemption Camp, Osun Osogbo Sacred grove and NASFAT camp) in southwestern Nigeria. There are numerous sacred spaces in the region of study, however; the selected spaces represent the three major religions (Christianity, Islam and African traditional religion) of the country. The study aims to address the challenges militating against the utilization of the uniqueness of faith-based tourism products in promoting sacred spaces as tourism destinations. The findings revealed that the major challenge that is posed is overcrowding but with improved infrastructure and sound instructions this can be adequately managed.

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