ICTs in the tourism experience at religious heritage sites: a review of the literature and an investigation of pilgrims’ experiences at the sanctuary of Loreto (Italy)

Abstract

The offer of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is, today, wide and varied, and they have reached a ubiquitous diffusion, with a deep impact on any kind of human activity. They are, though, neither goods in themselves nor undoubtably facilitators of experiences. This article investigates the border between ICTs as obstacles and ICTs as supports, taking into consideration the dialectic between religious experience and tourism experience, when it comes to visiting heritage sites of a religious nature. A first investigation of the role ICTs may have in a visit – or pilgrimage – to a Christian place of worship is presented: visitors to the Sanctuary of the Holy House of Loreto (Italy) were surveyed, with the aim of unveiling differences between a worship-oriented and a tourism-oriented use of ICTs. Findings show that the motivation driving the visit impacts the perception of ICTs and that the religious/spiritual experience needs to be kept personal.

Keywords

• Tourism
• religious heritage sites
• pilgrims’ experience
• ICT
• Loreto
• sanctuary