A Guest at Home: The Experience of Chinese Pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago

Chinese pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago experience it as a transformative journey of well-being and cross-cultural connection, with authenticity and harmony serving as key elements that align with their traditional values while distancing them from everyday social practices. This study, using phenomenological methods including 112 online travel journals and interviews with 12 pilgrims, reveals that both Chinese and Western pilgrims share similar internal and external journeys but navigate these within distinct sociocultural frameworks. Drawing on Cohen’s (1979) five travel-mode theory, the research highlights the Camino’s potential for sustainable marketing among Chinese tourists while emphasizing its significance as a global cultural heritage route.

Zhang, K., Labajo, V., Ramos, I., & González del Valle-Brena, A. (2021). A Guest at Home: The Experience of Chinese Pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago. Sustainability, 13(19), 10658. https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910658