The Irish company Joe Walsh Tours was instrumental in the development of Irish tourism to Santa Ponsa from the 1970s. This marked something of a diversification for a company whose origins were and remain religious travel. It wasn’t bringing holidaymakers to a place with religious connotations. There is no saint Ponsa. To use a grand technical term, Santa Ponsa is a pseudo-hagiotoponym. In other words, it’s a made-up saint’s name. The Irish tourists of the 70s were thus instead following in the footsteps of others in seeking out purely secular experiences.
Nowadays, Joe Walsh Tours offer pilgrimages to important religious destinations, such as Lourdes, Rome, Santiago de Compostela and Fátima. In Portugal, travellers have the opportunity to combine their time at the Sanctuary of Fátima and the Basilica de Nossa Senhora do Rosário with a few days on a beach. Spiritual well-being doesn’t exclude a spot of good old sun and beach, which was what the Irish holidaymakers in Mallorca in the 70s were principally interested in.
But there would have been the opportunity to visit certain religious sites, as there of course still is. From what I can make out, though, the Joe Walsh Tours of the current day don’t include Mallorca on their religious travel itinerary, even with the possibility of doing a Portugal-style beach-basilica combination.
Does Mallorca really rate as a religious tourism destination? The fact is that the island can’t compete with the likes of Lourdes and the Vatican. Which isn’t to say that Mallorca lacks its religious culture in terms both of philosophy and physical heritage. It’s just that there isn’t a major attraction to pull in the visitors.
One might argue that this is just as well, given all the present-day debate about overtourism. The last thing that Mallorca needs is thousands upon thousands of pilgrims. However, religious tourism is one of the niche products largely hidden away - archaeology is another - that have been spoken about for years as alternatives to the bread and butter of sun and beach and in terms of an alternative tourist profile. A theory where the religious tourist is concerned is that he or she would be highly respectful and may well also be blessed with deep pockets, not that this automatically follows.
Twelve years ago, I suggested that there was potential merit in a tourism product of routes that covered Palma’s cathedral and the churches, monasteries and hermitages of Mallorca. There were sites of special significance, like Lluc Sanctuary, Miramar (because of Ramon Llull), the Puig de Randa (also because of Llull) and to which Petra has been added since the canonisation of Juniper Serra, although it has to be accepted that not everyone is enamoured of Father Juniper.
The key lay with recognising there are different profiles of visitors, one who is religious and the other who is keen on the history and the heritage - the architecture of Mallorca’s churches is in itself a source of great fascination. This distinction is something that Spiritual Mallorca appreciates. This organisation was in fact founded the year after I made my suggestion, not that I claim any credit for it.
Initially, Spiritual Mallorca offered visits to Lluc. There was then an approach from the Franciscan Order, whose properties include the Basilica of Sant Francesc in Palma and its cloister, the Cura Sanctuary in Randa and the Josep Ferragut-designed Porcíúncula Church in Arenal. The company therefore set out to create a brand to bring these sites together. There is a card for visits to these sites plus Santa Eulalia Church in Palma and the Cathedral.
The CEO of Spiritual Mallorca is Rafael Durán, who also happens to be the president of Abactur, the Balearic Association of Tourist Activities (attractions). In this regard, therefore, Lluc, the Cathedral and others are alongside the likes of the Caves of Drach, the Soller Train, Marineland and Palma Aquarium.
But is it big business, this religious tourism? Globally it’s massive - more than 300 million people per annum, according to the World Tourism Organization. The Hajj to Mecca had some 1.83 million pilgrims in 2024. Mallorca isn’t anything like in this league. There may be some pilgrims but only limited numbers. Pilgrimages by residents are small affairs for the Easter ‘pancaritats’; many more for the walk to Lluc in September. This said, the annual number of visitors to Lluc Sanctuary, according to Durán, is between 400,000 and 450,000, a figure similar to the number of pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela.
The visitor profile is fundamentally different. Lluc attracts general tourists in a manner that Santiago doesn’t with its pilgrimages. Even so, this does offer an indication of interest, as does the Cathedral, with some one million visitors and worshippers per annum. It is a tourism overwhelmingly attracted by the religious heritage as opposed to religion per se. There is no organised pilgrimage tourism, as can be deduced from Joe Walsh Tours. For the most part, Lluc and the Cathedral aside, it is very much a niche, but it is one that isn’t bound by the seasons. Does it feature in institutional efforts to promote the low season, though? It does not.
