Author(s)

LORENZ POGGENDORF

Abstract

Sustainable tourism has been on the rise for many years. This paper argues for a connection between sustainable tourism and spiritual tourism, and moreover explains the similarities and differences between traditional spiritual tourism and new spiritual tourism by means of various case studies. The main goal of the paper is, however, to illustrate the potential of new forms of spiritual tourism for an expanded understanding of sustainability. Until now, sustainable tourism has been focussing on balancing environmental, social and economic issues in the external material world. To these important goals, tourism should add the goal of a sustainable trip in the sense of long-term benefits towards subjective wellbeing beyond the trip itself. This is because ultimately, we will only achieve balance in the outer world through balance in our inner world. By adding spiritual tourism to the concept of sustainable tourism, we will be able to integrate the spiritual dimension of human existence into an even more fulfilling travel experience.

Keywords

spiritual tourism, sustainable tourism, classification, case studies, potential