Pilgrimage tourism in the Holy Land: The behavioural characteristics of Christian pilgrims

The purpose of this paper is to describe, characterise and analyse the behavioural characteristics of Christian pilgrims to holy sites in the Holy Land at the present time. The method of research used in this study was based on one hundred questionnaires, which the pilgrims themselves were asked to complete. The conclusion is that a scale exists upon which the 'tourist-behavioural' features characterising present-day Christian pilgrims can be rated. This scale covers their world-view which ranks the importance of holy sites and the pilgrims' lack of interest in tourism per se. It was found that behavioural factors are related to the pilgrims' perception of holy sites in general and those in Israel in particular. The scale can be described as secularism versus sacredness and tourism versus pilgrimage. The typology is important because it allows us to classify and create other typologies and also to analyse the subject for practical purposes. Additionally, the survey highlights the increasing convergence of old-fashioned pilgrimage and tourism, which have much in common.