I spent a few days in Goto Archipelago to do consulting and help develop religious tourism related to the UNESCO world heritage “Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region“. The officials wish to develop Christian pilgrimages, a topic for which difficulty of access is less a problem than for more generic tourism (more alternatives). Still, one topic of discussion with island hopping. Besides, we enjoyed a great cycling tour, and discussed the sales of religious souvenirs and of food souvenirs (e.g. famous local udon noodles). Finally, two important aspects were family trips and branding.
Interestingly, this project included remote consulting about Europeans’ faiths and about famous pilgrimages such as Lourdes (France) and Santiago de Compostela (Spain). One of my interns greatly helped with data gathering.
Finally, I wrote a travel article in French “Communauté et Églises Catholiques À Goto” (3,000+ views) to raise awareness in the key market of France.