Moving Pilgrimage into the Virtual Realm: Understanding the Advantages and Complexities of Immersive Technologies

This chapter examines and investigates immersive technologies, including mixed reality (MR), virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), which have seen rapid development, offering innovative solutions that enhance interactions for visitors. While the impact of immersive technologies on enhancing the visitor experience has been well studied, there has been little attention given to the pilgrimage tourism experience in current literature, despite its significant role in the global tourism economy and its ability to attract millions of travellers annually. To better understand how visitors respond to the use of immersive technologies and address this gap, this chapter presents a conceptual framework by examining the overall role of immersive technologies in the pilgrimage experience, considering cognitive, emotional, spatial and social behavioural aspects. The chapter also discusses the challenges and limitations associated with implementing immersive technologies in pilgrimage tourism. It concludes with recommendations for the future of pilgrimage tourism and practical implications based on these findings.