By Kevin Wright
Are you involved in the new era of faith vacations? If not, I would like to be the first to welcome you. What is this new era I am talking about? If you haven’t noticed yet, faith-based travel has blossomed in recent years into an industry all its own complete with vacations ranging from the purely spiritual to the purely leisure, and virtually everything in between.
When you think of “religious travel,” what comes to mind? If you are like most of us, pilgrimage tours or missionary travel is often your first thought. This makes sense, as these two forms of travel compose the backbone of spiritually based trips. However, vacations of faith are today becoming much more elastic.
Whether you are a traveler, a group planner or an organization that promotes and sells faith vacations, it’s important to know what trips are available today for churches and religious organizations. Although pilgrimages and mission trips remain the bread and butter of this industry, many other vacation options are quickly gaining popularity. What are these trips? • Christian cruising • Fellowship (leisure) vacations • Retreats, camps and monastery guest-stays • Crusades, rallies and conventions • Adventure and active trips • Visits to faith-based attractions
How popular are these latter vacations? Consider that more than a dozen full-ship Christian cruise charters take place each year. More than 8 million people and 120,000 churches participate in faith-based camps. Almost 15 million people attend religious conventions and conferences annually. Hundreds of thousands more embark on adventure and active trips, like skiing and hiking, with their places of worship. And some religious attractions draw anywhere from 250,000 visitors to a staggering 800,000 visitors each year.
Taken together, this kaleidoscope of faith vacation options and their respective popularity has ushered in a new era of travel for churches and religious groups. This summer alone, two new Christian attractions have launched: the Billy Graham Library in North Carolina and the Creation Museum in Kentucky. Both are projected to welcome a quarter of a million visitors in their first year.
Even the concept of faith-based travel is changing. Today, more people are viewing such trips as vacations. Although faith still remains the primary purpose of this type of travel, the expectation of experiencing leisure elements is new.
Of course, there is much more to share with you regarding the changing landscape of faith vacations. I invite you to join me next month at the Going On Faith Conference August 16-18 in Louisville, Ky., where I will be delivering the keynote address, “The New Era of Faith Vacations.” I look forward to seeing you next month, and be sure to stop me in the halls and say hello.
Back to Articles
