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)

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 investiga...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Ascaniis, Silvia De (Author) ; Cantoni, Lorenzo 1967- (Author) ; Mutangala, Marc-Marie (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Taylor & Francis [2018]
In: Church, Communication and Culture
Year: 2018, Volume: 3, Issue: 3, Pages: 310-334
IxTheo Classification:CB Christian life; spirituality
CD Christianity and Culture
KBA Western Europe
RH Evangelization; Christian media
Further subjects:B Loreto
B Tourism
B pilgrims' experience
B ICT
B Religious Heritage Sites
B Sanctuary
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Description
Summary: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.
ISSN:2375-3242
Contains:Enthalten in: Church, Communication and Culture
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/23753234.2018.1544835