People are travelling to Malta to seek religious and spiritual fulfilment, according to University of Malta lecturer Dane Munro.
The phenomenon, known as faith-based tourism, sees pilgrims from new religious movements, dark religions and Catholic religions travelling to the island on a spiritual journey.
“Fulfilment can be achieved in different ways,” Dr Munro told the Times of Malta.
“It can be found in traditional churches, or in the dolce far niente (the beauty of doing nothing) attitude that characterises Maltese cafes.”
But many pilgrims who come to Malta wish to visit old temples at Mnajdra or Ħaġar Qim for worship, looking to satisfy needs that traditional religions or churches can no longer fulfil.
“They frequently come to Malta to worship the mother goddess in the temples,” Dr Munro said.
Known as designer religions, the faiths revolve around beliefs preceding Christianity, where believers design their religion around a cluster of principles they believe to have characterised prehistoric religions. Both Heritage Malta and the Malta Tourism Authority have embraced the phenomenon.
They frequently come to Malta to worship the mother goddess in the temples
Heritage Malta is now extending its opening hours to allow for sunrise and sunset rituals at the Maltese temples. But the extra hour is reserved exclusively for prayer.
“It can’t be a shared community. You cannot have, on the one hand, pilgrims praying in the temple and on the other, tourists on a cultural visit. This is not a shared space,” insisted Dr Munro.
The pilgrims resort to religions dominant prior to the Christian paradigm, dancing at the Mnajdra temples to celebrate life or find healing. Tas-Silġ proved to be a newfound prayer site when historians found 3,000 year-old “rubbish dumps” full of pottery offered to the gods as sacrifices.
Pilgrims soon turned to the site for reflection and prayer.
The Malta Tourism Authority also embraced the idea, organising a conference on October 19, 20 and 21 on the growing niche market. The conference is set to inform stakeholders on attracting faith-based tourists.
“Our tourism industry is growing in terms of values. The growth in the market necessitates an evolution in the types of tourists we attract to Malta,” Mr Leslie Vella, strategic development officer at the Malta Tourism Authority explained.
But the phenomenon is not new to the country. Pilgrimage is around 70,000 years old, when people journeyed to caves once a month to pray for fertility and food.
The island also attracts Roman Catholic and Protestant pilgrims, who travel to the country to relive the biblical story of St Paul, in an effort to immerse themselves in their faith.
Anthropologists have always described Malta as “a sacred island”, further attracting those who seek to immerse themselves in their beliefs.
But pilgrimage also has a “dark” side, attracting believers who seek spiritual fulfilment in cemeteries or sites associated with death and suffering. The floors of St John’s Cathedral, an entire series of tombs, attract these “dark” pilgrims who come to the island to reflect on death and suffering.