According to preliminary conclusions at the first Religious Tourism Conference held in Lluc, religious tourism in Majorca attracts two million people each year.
The conference, a collaboration between Lluc Monastery and the University of the Balearic Islands, intended to assist in the development of joint study programmes in the fields of culture, teaching and research, while the event also looked at the relevance that religious tourism has acquired in recent years within the broader concept of cultural tourism. This is a factor to boost the Majorcan economy, with the pool of tourists attracted by it contributing an average spend of 200 euros per person per day.
Among the most visited sites are the Cathedral, Lluc Monastery, the Saint Francis Royal Convent, the Museum of Fray Junipero Serra in Petra and the Charterhouse in Valldemossa. The academic co-ordinator of the conference, Pere Fullana, stressed that “religious tourism is a strategic option for Majorca’s economic development which can act as a factor for combating seasonality and as a complementary product to sun and beach, as tourists can come all year round and do not depend upon the weather.”
The cultural director and co-ordinator of the whole conference, Pedro Muñoz, said that “Majorca has a great religious heritage which, well-managed and focused, could represent a cultural tourist product of the highest order and have the capacity to embrace different economic sectors in the whole of the Balearics.”