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

Abstract

This study seeks to discover how the Santiago Pilgrimage Routes are experienced by Chinese pilgrims and explore the similarities and differences between their experience and that of Western pilgrims as well as of general Chinese outbound tourists. The research follows an interpretivist paradigm and adopts a phenomenological approach. Data were collected from 112 online travel journals posted by Chinese Camino pilgrims and in-depth interviews to twelve Chinese pilgrims. The results reveal that the Camino is experienced by Chinese pilgrims as a personal, intercultural-interpersonal, and universal journey. Authenticity and harmony are found to be the key factors that contribute to a transformative journey that Chinese pilgrims undergo on the Camino. The motivational and experiential patterns are similar among Chinese pilgrims and Western pilgrims, but different from Chinese outbound tourists, which may be understood as influenced by both traditional and contemporary Chinese socio-cultural forces. The implications on sustainable management of the Camino as a global cultural route heritage and destination marketing among Chinese travellers are discussed.