Religious Tourism Post-Covid-19: An Insight into the Quarantine Stories in The Holy Qur’an

Abstract

Tourism has received a heavy blow by the outbreak of Coronavirus-Covid-19, and the results have casted a dark shadow on tourism in general and religious tourism in particular. The consequences have caused both the supply and demand for travel throughout almost the whole world to come to a complete stop. The restrictions imposed on travel led to a significant contraction in the supply of travel services (domestic, regional and international), while the demand gradually completely diminished. The impact of Covid-19 virus outbreak has undoubtedly been felt throughout the tourism value chain. Small and medium enterprises related to religious tourism have been affected in particular, which calls for support and recovery measures for the tourism sector. What are we going to do in our “new normal” post-pandemic to prepare for religious tourism recovery? The paper attempts to investigate the quarantine stories in the Holy Qur’an as a way of rebuilding faith. The paper claims that faith might be an effective stepping stone in beginning to create a recuperation plan and outline steps for a speedy recovery and a swift rebound. The paper adopts the textual analysis method to investigate the literature review in context with the pandemic, religious tourism and Qur’anic discourse analysis. The study promotes the theme of consolidating faith for the sake of combating diseases and stimulating positivity. The study emphasizes that visiting holy places generates a set of human relationships that result from the tourists stay because of their love for the place in which the Creator’s relationship with the creature is embodied.

Research focus:

Quarantine stories in the Holy Qur’an as a way of rebuilding faith