“People involved in spiritual tourism should travel on their own!”: presentations of guides about tourist destinations of the Murmansk region

Abstract

Based on the analysis of the results of a survey of guides living in the Murmansk region, the article discusses their represents about the development of tourism in the Kola region and the place of spiritual tourism in this infrastructure. In our opinion, guides play an important role in designing and forming the travel experience. Spiritual tourism is considered as a concept in a broad sense, as tourism that attracts travelers whose main motivation is the desire for spiritual development, which involves self-realization and self-enrichment during the trip. The results of the study showed that the guides of the region are poorly involved as intermediaries in this type of tourism. This is largely due to the fact that, according to the guides, spiritual tourists should travel on their own.