Religious tourism with international congress in Fátima in 2024

The IWRT Conference will bring together experts and visionary leaders in tourism, spirituality and technology under the slogan “Breaking New Grounds”

In February 2024, the city of Fátima will host the 20th International Congress of Religious and Sustainable Tourism, which will run in parallel with the 11th International Workshops on Religious Tourism (IWRT), which in addition to Fátima will also be held in Guarda.

The last editions of this international congress were held in Spain (2021 and 2023), Uruguay and Colombia (2022), and will continue in Europe this year, with the work taking place in Fátima on 22 and 23 February.

The Ourém-Fátima Business Association (ACISO), the organiser of the 11th International Workshops on Religious Tourism (IWRT), scheduled for February 22, 23 and 24 in Fátima and Guarda, announced that registration for the workshops opened on Tuesday and that, in addition to the International Congress on Religious and Sustainable Tourism and the workshops, there will also be a conference on the theme “Opening up new paths”.

The conference, to be held on the morning of 22 February, will “bring together experts and visionary leaders in the field of religious tourism”, inviting “a selected group of religious tourism experts, academics, industry professionals and spiritual leaders to debate the opportunities and challenges facing the religious tourism sector”, said ACISO.

“It will be a space for us to reflect on how technology, cultural changes and the expectations of younger travellers are driving changes in religious tourism experiences,” he added.

The aims of both the conference and the workshops are “to promote a pool of business contacts among the participants, to promote Portugal internationally as a favoured destination for Religious Tourism and to reinforce the importance of Religious Tourism in the context of the world tourism sector”, with the main target audience being tour operators and entrepreneurs from the hotel and tourism sector.

In addition to the work in Fátima, participants will be able to take part in a parallel programme to discover the Jewish Heritage in Guarda.

Figures available on the Workshops website show that in the previous ten editions, more than 5,500 professionals from over 60 countries took part and more than 40,000 meetings were held.

Official website: iwrt.pt