Recognising Australian Spiritual Tourism Marketing: Following the Path of Mary MacKillop

This conceptual paper suggests that now Australia as a tourism destination can move on from being a land of sun, sea, sand and sex, to a place of spirituality. The recent canonisation of the first Australian Saint, Sister Mary MacKillop, now known as Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop, has instigated spiritual tourism in Australia. Thousands of Australians travelled to the Vatican to witness the canonisation ceremony, while many more moved within Australia to join religious gatherings arranged simultaneously in different cities. The major argument put forward in this paper is that there is a growing market in Australia for inbound and outbound tourists seeking spiritual development. To capture that market, tourism marketers need to market places and events associated with Mary MacKillop as 'spiritual' rather than religious, linked to Christian or Catholic faiths. This study uniquely presents the 7Ps of the tourism marketing mix for spiritual tourism to Australia linked with Mary MacKillop. An empirical study conducted with the tourists visiting places and events associated with Mary MacKillop is suggested as a future study.