Perspectives of religious tourism in Azerbaijan

The paper deals with the analysis of religious tourism possibilities in Azerbaijan. The potential for Christian travelers is presented. Analysis includes historic background, and contemporary challenges of visiting Christian sacred places in relation to the themes of ancient history of Christianity and heritage maintenance. Religious heritage analysis of ancient Caucasian Albania is introduced. Despite diversification, phenomenon of religious tourism becomes more and more important, it involves people to consume narratives of places, which encapsulate their values. Visiting religious places in Azerbaijan such as Kish and Nij has opportunity of the growth. In order to evaluate perspectives of religious tourism in Azerbaijan SWOT analysis was done. The results of the research could be important not only to scientific community, but also to the policy makers, and tourism practitioners

Religious Landscape and Ecological Ethics: Pilgrimage to the Lithuanian Calvaries

This article deals with the ecology of pilgrimage at the Calvaries – Ways of the Cross – in Lithuania. Personal obligations to nature and respect of sacred place intermingle with devotional practices and certain rituals. Large scale arrivals at the Calvaries only occurs at certain times of year, mostly during the Indulgence Feasts. Devotional practices such as meditation on the suffering of Christ, prayers and hymns, playing musical instruments, washing one’s face at the Cedron spring are quite common during the Way. Research shows that walking the Way of the Cross doesn’t cause negative environmental, cultural and social impacts. Moreover, pilgrimage could be beneficial to local communities - providing opportunities to sell handcraft products, to meet relatives and friends. Visiting Calvaries is a religious act restrained by time: usually it takes about 3-4 hours to undertake the Stations of the Cross, about one hour to celebrate Holy Mass, and up to one hour at the market place buying religious memorabilia and other souvenirs

Management of Pilgrimages in Lithuania: Resources, Stakeholders and Projects

The paper deals with the analysis of the pilgrimage management structure in Lithuania. The author presents the possible intervention framework of the pilgrimage’s management. The network of sacred places in Lithuania is the main resource of the religious tourism and pilgrimage. Analysis includes historic background, and contemporary novelties of the network of pilgrim sites. Travellers and stakeholders become more and more important in the management system. Various NGOs, as the Community of Lithuanian Pilgrims, play an important role in promoting pilgrim sites and pilgrimage. However, the main strategies and projects of the pilgrimage development in Lithuania are related to the creation of new pilgrim routes. Despite diversification, the phenomenon of religious tourism and pilgrimage is viable and involves travellers to consume these historic and contemporary religious pilgrimage routes

Švč. Mergelės Marijos apsireiškimai: sociologinė analizė

 The main purpose of this article is to discuss the social aspects of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary, the development of apparition places, as well as the motivation and behavioral characteristics of pilgrims going to the miraculous places of the Virgin Mary in Lithuania. The article reviews the criteria recognized by the Church for assessment of the authenticity of apparitions, their characteristics, paradigm, and other scientific researches, a list of the Vatican-approved apparitions and apparition places in Lithuania. We used the main elements of the paradigm of apparitions for an empirical study of the officially recognized apparition in Šiluva, Lithuania. Finally, we also explore the complex motivation of religious tourism and pilgrimage. It relates to the manifestation of pilgrims’ personal or community values and identity as well as other cognitive or social motives. The paper concludes that the apparitions of the Virgin Mary take place in locations where social groups resist political, social, or moral change. Therefore, places of apparitions become a continuously re-created and re-interpreted social reality.Pagrindinis straipsnio tikslas – aptarti socialinius Švč. Mergelės Marijos apsireiškimų ypatumus, apsireiškimų vietų vystymąsi, taip pat motyvaciją ir elgesio bruožus piligrimų, vykstančių į Švč. Mergelės Marijos apsireiškimų vietas Lietuvoje. Straipsnyje apžvelgiami Bažnyčios naudojami kriterijai vertinant apsireiškimų autentiškumą, apsireiškimų charakteristikos, jų paradigma, kiti su apsireiškimais susiję mokslininkų tyrimai, pristatomi Vatikano patvirtinti apsireiškimai ir Lietuvoje įvykusių apsireiškimų vietos. Pagal pagrindinius apsireiškimų paradigmos elementus analizuojamas oficialiai pripažintas Šiluvoje įvykęs apsireiškimas. Galiausiai tiriama religinio turizmo ir piligriminių kelionių kompleksinė motyvacija, susijusi tiek su piligrimų asmeninių ar bendruomeninių vertybių ir tapatumo raiška, tiek su kitais pažintiniais ar socialiniais motyvais. Straipsnyje daroma išvada, kad Švč. Mergelės Marijos apsireiškimai vyksta vietose, kuriose priešinamasi politiniams, socialiniams ar moraliniams pokyčiams, o apsireiškimų vietos tampa nuolat kuriama ir interpretuojama socialine realybe, lankoma piligrimų

The Impact of Covid-19 on the Tourism and Accommodation Sector in Lithuanian Rural Areas

This article aims (1) to underline the level of impact of COVID-19 on the accommodation sector in Lithuanian rural areas, (2) to evaluate transformation possibilities and new opportunities for rural tourism, and (3) to present a new model of the tourism future in the regions. The article discusses the historical aspects of the accommodation business in Lithuania, the territorial distribution of accommodation in rural areas of Lithuania, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the accommodation sector in rural areas. Spatial analysis, together with qualitative and quantitative methods, was used in this research. The primary data for the article were received from the questionnaires filled out by fifty representatives of the Tourism Information Centres from different Lithuanian regions. Also, the analysis is supplemented by the secondary official statistical data. The research results revealed the direct impact of COVID-19 on the accommodation sector in rural regions of Lithuania. The proposed RegTour model contributes to reducing the impact of COVID-19 on the country\u27s economy and promoting the development of new forms of knowledge-based business and the transformation of the sector. Moreover, the research revealed the unexploited opportunities of rural tourism and the possible directions of change

Challenges of the tourism sector in Lithuania in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: State aid instruments and the efficiency of the tourism business support

At the beginning of 2020 Lithuania, and many other European countries, introduced quarantine and began restricting movement across the country’s borders. The imposed restrictive measures have greatly impacted and led to the stagnation of tourism sector. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions, the number of international tourist arrivals sharply decreased. In 2021 the majority of restrictions have been eased due to the decreasing morbidity, but it did not reinstate the tourism into the previous level. According to statistics, the decline in tourist flows in Lithuania in 2021 still continued, albeit the decrease was smaller. The increase in the number of local tourists (especially in 2021) has somewhat compensated the loss of international tourism, but has not changed it. The tourism business is still going through a difficult period. This article emphasizes the issues of local and inbound tourism business in Lithuania in the context of Covid-19 pandemic. The greatest attention is placed on the instruments proposed by the Lithuanian Government to mitigate the negative consequences of the pandemic on tourism service. The research combines secondary and primary data sources. Secondary data was used for the analysis of official Lithuanian statistics in order to introduce general trends of the development of tourism sector during the last decade. Primary data was received using the methods of focus group and survey (a questionnaire to collect data sets from tourism business enterprises in Lithuania). The statistical analysis revealed that the difficult situation was noticed in all fields of tourism sector, however, the main losers of the pandemic were those relying on the international tourist. The analysis of official documents disclosed, that even though the tourism business was able to benefit from the variety of offered governmental aid packages in 2020–2021, the quantity and quality of support was not enough and strongly criticized. Our survey results pointed out the instruments that were most effective among the tourism enterprises. Moreover, from the collected answers we noticed, that at least part of tourism enterprises took the opportunity to use the support not only for compensation of pandemic related costs but also to look forward and the received financial support invested in innovative solutions in the tourism business, so pandemic potentially had some positive effects as well. Also, the survey results reviled that there are considerable opportunities for tourism related development of the nature rich, non-metropolitan regions, though at the moment these activities quite often remain outside the market relations and do not produce new incomes and jobs