Construction of Visitors' Spiritual Meaning in Spiritual Tourism Practices at the Mbah Hamid Religious Tourism Site, Pasuruan

Pilgrimage to Muslim scholars’ tombs is a religious practice that can also become a site of spiritual meaning-making. This study analyzes how visitors construct spiritual meaning through pilgrimage at the Mbah Hamid Religious Tourism Site in Pasuruan. A qualitative phenomenological design with an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) orientation was used. Data were obtained through semi-structured in-depth interviews, participant observation, and documentation involving ten informants: seven primary visitors and three supporting informants. The analysis proceeded case by case through repeated reading, experiential noting, descriptive coding, within-case theme development, and cross-case comparison, followed by interpretation through self-awareness, connectedness, transcendence, and Berger and Luckmann’s social construction theory. The findings indicate recurring meanings related to self-reflection, perceived closeness to God, social and environmental connectedness, inner peace, religious practice, emotional regulation, gratitude, and family relationships. These meanings were interpreted as processes of externalization, objectivation, and internalization within the social environment of the pilgrimage site. The study contributes a visitor-centered account of how spiritual meaning is articulated through lived experience and socially shared religious practices.