Religious Tourism and Marketing Strategies: A Mapping Approach

The tourism industry has excelled with the passage of time, and it now forms a major part of the economy. One of the major components of the tourism industry is religious tourism, which involves the movement of people for religious purposes and cultural experiences related to religious destinations. Religious tourism is also called faith tourism, and it has gained scholarly interest along with marketing research, encompassing pilgrimage, spiritual travel, faith-based destinations, and sacred places. The literature has expanded in this field, but research remains fragmented in this context. To address this gap, researchers conducted a bibliometric analysis on religious tourism and marketing published between 2015 and 2025. A well-established scholarly database (Scopus) was used to conduct this study. Using VOSviewer and the Biblometrix (R)package, this study maps influential authors, affiliated institutions, collaboration networks, and dominant themes in the field. The findings reveal the steady pattern in scientific output in the last decade. The research is not confined to a specific region, but it is broadly distributed. The findings highlight emerging themes and provide valuable insights for researchers and future development in this growing interdisciplinary field. Keywords: Bibliometric analysis; Religious Tourism; Marketing Strategies; Mapping Approach