Religious Tourism’s Impact on City Space: Service Zones around Sanctuaries

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The topic explored in the paper is interesting and, in general terms, the paper has a good quality.

Regarding the structure of the paper, I consider that the methodology should go after the objectives and should be more detailed. For me, this is one of the weakest points of the paper. Methodology is extremely important to know how the research has been done and how consistent are the results. 

I would suggest, as well, to take a look at the works of Ambrosio analysing the development of sanctuary-cities in Europe like Fatima, Lourdes and Knot. He suggests that the ownership of the land surrounding the shrines has much to do also with the development of the service infrastructures.

The reference list and the quoting have to be changed according to the journal requirements. 

Author Response

At first I would like to thank the Reviewer for time spent and comments that were significant and improved the manuscript.

1. Agreeing with the Reviewer's #1 comment below:

‘Regarding the structure of the paper, I consider that the methodology should go after the objectives and should be more detailed. For me, this is one of the weakest points of the paper. Methodology is extremely important to know how the research has been done and how consistent are the results.’

We have added a long fragment describing the methodology (page 12, subsection: Materials and methods), it reads as follows:

Field studies, inventories of objects related to the functioning of pilgrimage centres, and their location in relation to the core (main sacred object) of the sanctuary with the marking of their distance from the sanctuary services zone, and the spatial and histori-cal analysis of the obtained data constitute the methodological basis of the presented ar-ticle.The influence of pilgrimage centres on the organization of urban space has not been the subject of comprehensive geographic studies so far. In our research, we at-tempted to fill this gap by tracing the impact of pilgrimage centres on the organization of urban space, taking into account three spatial scales, from the immediate surroundings of the sanctuary to its impact on a scale of the entire town. The adopted criteria (de-scribed in the article) for each of the separated scales made it possible, on the basis of the conducted field inventory as well as spatial and historical analysis, to determine the impact of the sanctuary on micro, meso, and macro scales. The field studies were also aimed at separating and characterizing sanctuary services zones and showing their di-versified impact on the city, from the micro scale (small zones) to the macro scale in the case of the largest pilgrimage districts. The areas closest to the sanctuary, associated with the highest number of visitors, were assumed to be sanctuary services zones. Ear-lier surveys on the area of the greatest activity of pilgrims, conducted by I. Sołjan in 2008, inter alia in Lourdes and Częstochowa, made it possible to determine the maxi-mum range of these zones within a radius of 1,000 m from the boundaries of the sanc-tuary, and so this range was adopted in this article. The main determinant of the zone was the presence of religious facilities and tourist infrastructure created to meet the needs of people visiting the pilgrimage centre.

2. According to second remark of the Reviewer#1,

‘I would suggest, as well, to take a look at the works of Ambrosio analysing the development of sanctuary-cities in Europe like Fatima, Lourdes and Knot. He suggests that the ownership of the land surrounding the shrines has much to do also with the development of the service infrastructures.’

We added Ambrosio's (2007) and Ambrosio & Pereira's (2007) research to the section on the state of the article (page 2). We agree that they make a significant contribution to the state of research related to the issue of our article. We have also included appropriate notes for these papers in the reference list.

3. The reference list and the quoting have to be changed according to the journal requirements. We checked and corrected minor citation errors in line with this note.

Reviewer 2 Report

The article is well structured and reveals innovations in the objectives it proposes.

Sometimes the Article is too close to the studies of Sołjan Izabela and / or Sołjan Izabela and Liro Justyna. The literature review should be enlarged because there is a lack of references to other spatial development models of sanctuary towns, such as the study presented by Ambrósio & Pereira (2007). Case Study 2: Christian / Catholic Pilgrimage - Studies and Analyzes, in Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Management - An International Perspective, (chapter 11), R. Raj and N. D. Morpeth (eds.), pp. 140-152. Oxfordshire: CABI.

The Methodology is briefly described, being too vague.

The conclusions are almost only the summary of previous findings; it is necessary to improve them.

P.S. I detected two minor errors: p.04, l. 131, of an city; p.9, l. 318, pilgrmage.

Author Response

At first I would like to thank the Reviewer for time spent and comments that were significant and improved the manuscript.

1. Agreeing with the Reviewer's #2 comment below:

The literature review should be enlarged because there is a lack of references to other spatial development models of sanctuary towns, such as the study presented by Ambrósio & Pereira (2007). Case Study 2: Christian / Catholic Pilgrimage - Studies and Analyzes, in Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Management - An International Perspective, (chapter 11), R. Raj and N. D. Morpeth (eds.), pp. 140-152. Oxfordshire: CABI.

We added Ambrosio's (2007) and Ambrosio & Pereira (2007) research to the section on the state of the article (page 2). We agree that they make a significant contribution to the state of research related to the issue of our article. We have also included appropriate notes for these papers in the reference list.

2. According to second remark of the Reviewer,

The Methodology is briefly described, being too vague.

We have added a long fragment describing the methodology (page 12, subsection: Materials and methods), it reads as follows:

Field studies, inventories of objects related to the functioning of pilgrimage centres, and their location in relation to the core (main sacred object) of the sanctuary with the marking of their distance from the sanctuary services zone, and the spatial and histori-cal analysis of the obtained data constitute the methodological basis of the presented ar-ticle.The influence of pilgrimage centres on the organization of urban space has not been the subject of comprehensive geographic studies so far. In our research, we at-tempted to fill this gap by tracing the impact of pilgrimage centres on the organization of urban space, taking into account three spatial scales, from the immediate surroundings of the sanctuary to its impact on a scale of the entire town. The adopted criteria (de-scribed in the article) for each of the separated scales made it possible, on the basis of the conducted field inventory as well as spatial and historical analysis, to determine the impact of the sanctuary on micro, meso, and macro scales. The field studies were also aimed at separating and characterizing sanctuary services zones and showing their di-versified impact on the city, from the micro scale (small zones) to the macro scale in the case of the largest pilgrimage districts. The areas closest to the sanctuary, associated with the highest number of visitors, were assumed to be sanctuary services zones. Ear-lier surveys on the area of the greatest activity of pilgrims, conducted by I. Sołjan in 2008, inter alia in Lourdes and Częstochowa, made it possible to determine the maxi-mum range of these zones within a radius of 1,000 m from the boundaries of the sanc-tuary, and so this range was adopted in this article. The main determinant of the zone was the presence of religious facilities and tourist infrastructure created to meet the needs of people visiting the pilgrimage centre.

We corrected other minor errors and took into account other remarks submitted by the Reviewer.