Religious Tourism is definitely the oldest of these 3. Rooted in many different beliefs about the value of visiting “Sacred” sites, pilgrims have travelled since back in the Roman Empire days, There are sights world wide to visit and deepen your faith. The most popular of these trips is the “Pastor’s Tour”. With this trip Pastors take members to religious sights. This has become so popular, mainly because members can “Bring the Bible to Life”. When they can do this with the Pastor, it brings so much more meaning to the sermons, bible classes, and worship in general.
Whether the congregation is Baptist, Jewish, Catholic, Muslim, or any of the mainstream religions here in the United States, there is a guided tour for everyone. One of the Tour Companies we talked about, Educational Travel Services, includes a stop every day for prayer or devotion. There is even an opportunity for the Pastor to “Preach his unique Sermon” in once in a lifetime locations. One cannot even imagine the impact on one’s life, listening to a sermon on a recreation of the fisherman’s boat on the Sea of Gallilee, or on Mount Gilead. Along with the local expert guide, these tours provide the ultimate in renewal.
The same is true of such sites as Lourdes, in France, and Fatima in Portugal. There are tours that visit these sites and more. You can feel so much safer with tours conducted by reputable Tour Companies, recommended by your Travel Agent. These companies live and work in the region. They know where to go and when, and they can safely guide you to little known sites for once in a lifetime experiences.
Cruise Lines also offer religious based tours. These tours are conducted by tour companies that are vetted by the Cruise Line. Many people prefer the comfort of a familiar bed, familiar food, and no language barriers. Those features are almost restricted to Cruise Lines because of the nature of the product. Other tour operators may offer a combination of Religious and educational tours.
Whatever your desires there is a package to fit you. You just have to visit your favorite tour operator with your ideas, your time frame, and your budget. There is something for everyone. As a very wonderful extra benefit, most “Pastor’s Tours” can allow the Pastor to travel free, and some tour companies include airfare in the Pastor’s Package. There are many opportunities for groups such as Bible Study Groups, Heritage based groups such as Italian – American and Polish Groups to tour, and the tour leader may even go free.The object of this last series of articles is to present 3 types of Purpose Travel.
I hope we have helped you understand this growing facet of personal travel. Remember, ask your favorite Travel Agent – Don’t guess. My Agency specializes in a Heritage Tour to Italy, as an example. With this type of tour we enroll you in a “Heritage Program” that traces your family roots. We then do research to find where your relatives might be still living, where you family once lived, other families with your family name. The we design a custom itinerary that allows you to trace your heritage from where your family might have boarded the ship to the USA, backwards to the town of origin, even using the same Rail path, or roads your family used to get to the USA.
The possibilities are almost limitless when it comes to specialized travel, and we, and your favorite Travel Agent can guide you. Let’s GO TRAVEL.
