Religious tourism scholarship: current state and future research directions

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the knowledge domain and development trends that appear in the scholarly corpus on religious tourism.Design/methodology/approachThe most common themes evolving in the religious tourism research field are figured out by conducting keyword and trend analyses using the bibliographic data collected from 988 research articles published in Social Science Citation-indexed journals listed in the Web of Science database between 1992 and 2022.FindingsIt has been found that the number of publications has increased exponentially. European countries are the major contributors to religious tourism research. Research has mainly clustered around the areas of spiritual experience, identity, cultural heritage, pilgrimage, tourist attitude, behavior and satisfaction. Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism are religions that have received relatively little research attention.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research should focus on the sustainability of religious tourism sites, mitigating the adverse impact of the commercialization of religious tourism products and recovering religious tourism activities from the COVID-19 impact.Practical implicationsThe findings are useful for corporate practitioners, site managers and entrepreneurs to take advantage of the valuable opportunities this segment offers. These findings are useful for scholars and policymakers in acquiring the latest knowledge of developments in this field.Social implicationsThe insights obtained by using a holistic approach are valuable for religious tourists who want to understand the importance of visiting religious sites.Originality/valueThis study identifies key themes that have evolved in religious tourism. In so doing, it presents an agenda for pushing this research corpus forward.