Managing pilgrimage

Abstract

The worldwide phenomenon of pilgrimage - the difficult pious journey to some sacred place - everywhere needs expert management to deal with constantly changing external and internal challenges to ensure continuance and legitimacy of devotions. Relevant influences include location, internal facilities, conditions of travel, the spatial and temporal regime of pilgrim performance, accommodation and security of shrine visitors, and even doctrinal changes. The varied individuals and agencies entrusted with managing pilgrimages seek to modify their physical sites, ritual practices, and other features in order to anticipate or adapt to shifting selective conditions in a sort of evolutionary transformative process.