PILGRIM ACADEMY ● ENGLISH
III. Sacral-Spiritual Tourism Visitor Management Workshops
Domestic and foreign experts met this year in the 800-year-old Abbey Church of Pannonhalma and in the buildings and conference hall of the surrounding gymnasium at the Pilgrim Academy, which was organized for the third time, where there was an opportunity to present good practices, exchange experiences and get inspiration.
The participants at the sacral-spiritual visitor management workshop discussed what the ROUTE is about. The more than 90 professional and church actors, experts involved in the visitor management of destinations, as well as operators of pilgrimage points and routes, as well as travel organizers, were able to learn from each other during the two-day active, discovery program.
Perhaps we don't even think about how many turns our path takes us through during our lives, and even if we do experience this, it is not certain that we will understand the purpose and curve of our wandering at first. There are moments when we stop or have to stop, evaluate, reevaluate.
Spiritual situations, moments and places have a decisive role in this, they help in the process.
Wandering is also discovery, getting to know ourselves, which requires time and space, so we have tourist services, exhibition sites, and deepening, cultural and sacred points at our disposal.
In order for these services to be not just business solutions, but soul-to-soul connections that reveal self-discovery, tourism players and professionals must learn and practice this role just as religious places or pilgrimage organizers do modern tourist service.
According to our plans, the 1-day Pilgrim Academy PLUS in the fall of 2024, and the two-day Pilgrim Academy 4 will be held in the spring of 2025.
"I'm a pathfinder, on several levels and in different areas, but for now I can't find the right words to describe the experience and the feelings I've experienced in the last 2 days in Pannonhalma in the Main Abbey, thanks to the Pilgrims Academy. Thank you, and this on the way and I am grateful that you encouraged me to participate. I will try to give back the impossible in a few words and present what characterized these two days: - Shared values - Openness - Humor - Acceptance, inclusion - Hospitality - Working together and thinking together - Authenticity - Honesty - Transcendence. And there are three "top" things that I learned and experienced: 1.) The power of silence, 2.) The purpose of the journey as an offering, 3.) The importance of common values." Gyöngyvér Szabó
"Imagine yourself here. Even if you close your eyes. If you look inside a little, you feel that this space surrounds you, holds you. And now imagine 80 people here. A mass, with different stories, backgrounds, thoughts. A mass with its curious buzz , with his energy. Then imagine monks singing psalms to each other in two parts. When they reach the end, they remain motionless, an almost palpable silence and peace descends on the church. Then this silence and peace moves towards the 80 people. He caresses everyone one by one, and as if by magic infinite calm will take over everyone. They will connect with each other, with everything... It's imperceptible how much time passes without moving like this, in the endless silence. You can't even hear the rustling of coats. Space and time disappear. The twist is that I was able to experience all of this within the framework of a conference.” Márta Duchai