José Ramón Arroyo Catalina
The Pope’s visit and what may remain afterwards
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José Ramón Arroyo Catalina
The Pope’s visit and what may remain afterwards
Spain is becoming the focal point of global attention with the arrival of Pope Leo XIV. Yet beyond this week’s hotel occupancy figures, what lasting impact can this event have on our inland destinations? I share my reflections from the World Religious Tourism Network on how to transform this milestone into a legacy of territorial development.
Spain welcomes Pope Leo XIV. For a few days, Madrid, Barcelona, Gran Canaria, and Tenerife will be at the center of worldwide attention. It will be a religious, institutional, and media event of the highest order. But it will also be, if we know how to interpret it, an opportunity.
At the World Religious Tourism Network, we reaffirm our conviction that Spain is one of the world’s leading destinations for pilgrimage and spirituality—yet we do not always communicate this reality with the strength it deserves.
We have everything. The Camino de Santiago. The Sagrada Familia. Montserrat. El Pilar. Caravaca de la Cruz. Guadalupe. Ávila. Toledo. Burgos. León. Oviedo. Hundreds of monasteries, cathedrals, shrines, and religious celebrations where faith, history, art, and territory converge in a way that few countries can match. And then there is Holy Week, which needs no introduction.
The challenge is not the existence of heritage. Spain possesses it in abundance. The challenge is turning that heritage into meaningful experiences: organizing it, interpreting it, connecting it, making it accessible, and developing it in partnership with the communities that safeguard it.
Because religious tourism has evolved. It is no longer solely about pilgrimage in the traditional sense, although that dimension remains essential. Increasingly, people visit these places in search of something broader: beauty, silence, memory, identity, and emotion. They want to understand what a place means, not merely photograph it. This profile of visitor—curious, reflective, and seeking depth—is precisely the kind of traveler that many destinations need to attract.
For inland regions, this is far from a minor consideration. In Valladolid and throughout Castile and León, we possess a density of cultural, spiritual, and historical heritage that we sometimes take for granted. Holy Week traditions, monasteries, sacred art, historic routes, and small towns of immense symbolic value. In many cases, there is no need to create something new. What is needed is a better appreciation of what already exists, a stronger narrative around it, and coordinated collaboration among institutions, businesses, religious communities, and tourism stakeholders.
Returning to the Pope, a visit of this magnitude cannot be measured solely in terms of hotel occupancy rates or short-term economic activity, important though these are. Its true value lies in the image it projects. The cities that host such events showcase their heritage, their organizational capacity, and their spirit of hospitality to the world. And that impact extends far beyond the week itself.
For this reason, I believe this visit should be viewed in two stages. The first is immediate: mobilization, media attention, and encounter. The second—and far more important—is what comes afterwards. If destinations effectively develop their communication strategies, complementary routes, heritage interpretation, and coordination among all involved stakeholders, this week can become a starting point for strengthening a tourism sector with enormous long-term potential.
Spain is not only a country of sun and beaches, nor solely of gastronomy and great cities. It is also a land of pilgrimage, hospitality, contemplation, and celebration. A country with a profound cultural and spiritual depth that has much to offer a world increasingly in search of meaningful experiences.
The tourism impact of a visit such as this does not end when the Pope departs.
In reality, it begins precisely then.
Author: José Ramón Arroyo Catalina
National Coordinator for Spain
World Religious Tourism Network
The authors are responsible for the choice and presentation of the facts contained in this document and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of Tourism and Society Think Tank and do not commit the Organization, and should not be attributed to TSTT or its members.
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