Faith-based tourism: Scholars and stakeholders meet in Malta to discuss a ‘new’ niche market

An international conference was held in Qawra, co-convened by the Malta Tourism Authority, the University of Malta, the Dublin Institute of Technology (Ireland) and the Leeds Beckett University (United Kingdom).

This conference is of national importance and will provide a platform for the creation of a niche market of faith-based tourism. The latter is an umbrella term for, among others, religious tourism, pilgrimage, secular pilgrimage and cultural tourism with interest in religion and dark tourism.

The initiative for the conference comes from Dr Dane Munro, who has been researching and studying faith-based tourism at the Institute for Tourism, Travel and Culture, within the University of Malta. This coincided with a renewed effort by MTA, spearheaded by its deputy CEO, Leslie Vella, to develop this niche market and bring it to a more prominent position in the Maltese tourism product.

Worldwide, the faith-based tourism market is experiencing substantial growth and pilgrimage centres of different religions have been reporting increasing interest. In the last decade or so, visitor numbers connected to faith-based tourism have increased rapidly, contributing to a growing economic sector.

While tourism is a vital pillar of the Maltese economy, with a well-developed infrastructure, work is still going on in order to foster faith-based tourism by enhancing related products and services so that the islands can start to attract their fair share of pilgrimage tourists. Maltese religious, cultural and tourism authorities are collaborating in order to embark on a common campaign. The conference provided a great opportunity for all stakeholders to discover the opportunities that exist in this niche market.

Malta already welcomes a number of pilgrims and religious tourists, but this is mainly done through an uncoordinated effort, and Malta’s assets can certainly be utilised further. There are more than 590 places of worship in Malta, but very few are open all day for visitors in a structured way. All this wealth, access and progress can entice more interest for faith-based tourism or pilgrimages beyond the Maltese archipelago. Faith-based tourism is quite resistant to financial and economic turbulence and in the present, volatile world, a new and stable branch of tourism is more than welcome.

Last week’s conference had two main objectives. On the first day there was a presentation of position papers aimed at the stakeholders of the Maltese tourism sector, such as hotels and restaurant entrepreneurs, service providers, site owners or managers, the Church, event organisers and heritage managers.

The following two days were meant for academia to bring cutting-edge research in faith-based tourism into a wider global perspective and at the same time focus on the small island reality of Malta.