Religious Tourism: Experiences of Sikh Yatris Visting Kartarpur Corridor, Pakistan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54183/jssr.v3i2.249Keywords:
Experiences, Kartarpur Corridor, Religious Tourism, Sikh YatrisAbstract
Religious tourism is an important part of human culture and history. The Kartarpur Corridor in Pakistan has become a popular destination for Sikh pilgrims to attend the revered Gurdwara Darbar Sahib. This study investigated the experiences of Sikh Yatris traveling via the Kartarpur Corridor with respect to travel, logistics, living amenities, and performance of rituals. A total of 33 In-depth interviews were conducted during the period from June 2022 to July 2022 with purposively selected Sikh Yatris. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and NVIVO 11. Sikh Yatris, who visited Kartarpur, had wonderful experiences with logistics, living amenities, and the convenience of performing religious rituals. They reported feeling a strong spiritual connection to the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara and expressed appreciation for the facilitation of their religious pilgrimage by the Pakistani government. Participants also reported enjoying the friendly and hospitable atmosphere in Pakistan and feeling safe and secure during their visit. This study contributes to understanding the role of religious tourism in promoting cultural exchange, interfaith dialogue, and regional stability, with the potential to normalize relations between India and Pakistan.
References
Ahmed, S. (2021). Kartarpur Corridor as a Site of Pilgrimage: Exploring Tourists’ Perceptions and Experiences. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 19(3), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14766825.2021.1904749
Babakus, E., & Yavas, U. (2008). The Role of Customer Orientation in Tourist Firms. Journal of Travel Research, 47(4), 423–434. (N.d.-a). Retrieved 31 March 2023, from https://fgs.org.tw/en/?page_id=6529.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Brouder, P., & Teixeira, R. (2018). Religious tourism research: current status and future directions. Tourism Management, 66, 53-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.11.014
Buddhismus Stiftung Fo Guan Shan. (2016). Pilgrimage tourism in Buddhism. Retrieved from https://fgs.org.tw/en/?page_id=6529
Chen, X., & Geaves, R. (2021). Buddhist Pilgrimage and Identity Formation: A Case Study of Putuo Mountain, China. China. Religion, 51(1), 63–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2020.1852953
Gannon, M. J., & Baxter, I. (2017). The Impact of Religious Tourism on Spiritual Wellbeing. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 32, 84–93.
Gilani, A., & Talib, A. (2020). Kartarpur corridor: A step towards regional cooperation in South Asia. The Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences, 28(2), 61–76.
Jafari, J. (2015). Tourism and Peace: A Tourism Perspective on Peace, Conflict and Development (pp. 9–18; T. Griffin & R. Harris, Eds.). Channel View Publications.
Kaur, R. (2020). Pilgrimage Tourism and Peace Building: A Case of Kartarpur Corridor. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 25(4), 405–416. https://doi.org/:10.1080/10941665.2019.1674964
Mishra, S., & Taneja, S. (2021). Religious Tourism and the Kartarpur Corridor: A Step Towards Interfaith Understanding. International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage, 9(2), 25–36. https://doi.org/10.21427/xy0v-n258
Saxena, G., & Singh, P. (2019). Kartarpur Corridor: Prospects and challenges. International Journal of Scientific Research and Management, 7(9), 772–777.
Singh, A., & Kaur, N. (2020). Assessing the Perception of Pilgrims towards the Facilities and Services Provided at the Pilgrimage Site of Kartarpur Sahib. Journal of Tourism and Heritage Studies, 3(1), 30–39.
Singh, G. (2020). Kartarpur corridor: The road to peace and friendship between India and Pakistan. Journal of Punjab Studies, 27(1/2), 123-142.
Timothy, D. J., & Olsen, D. H. (2017). Religion and Spiritual Journeys. Routledge.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Copyright in the Journal of Social Sciences Review is retained by the author(s). Authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its integrity is maintained and its original authors, citation details and publisher are identified.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
SSR's Editorial Board shares the vision of providing free access to information, education, and science for everyone, thus promoting its content through an OPEN ACCESS POLICY, fulfilling the DOAJ definition of open access. The JSSR adheres to an Open Access and Copyright Licensing Policy based on the belief that making research freely accessible to the public promotes greater global knowledge sharing.
The JSSR uses the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. The authors who apply and publish in JSSR consent to abide by the copyright policy set out in the Creative Commons 4.0 license (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license).
- Copyright in the Journal of Social Sciences Review is retained by the author(s).
- Authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its integrity is maintained and its original authors, citation details and publisher are identified.
While "By 'open access' to this literature, we mean its free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself."
