Paper short abstract:

This research aims to present the recent phenomena of small-scale religious tourism destination which mostly located in a rural areas; what makes this destination remain existed.

Paper long abstract:

Using qualitative methods, this study tried to examine the existence of small-scale religious tourism. Religious tourism activity are usually related to visiting sacred locations such as graveyard, temple, or mountain peaks. To address this, the researcher used the case of visiting sacred graveyard activity among Moslem people in Javanese society, Indonesia. Gunungpring Sacred Graveyard, a small-scale destination which located in a rural area, selected as the case study. In Java, there are thousands of graves that are visited by numerous people. The most important saints in Java are the agents of the Islamisation of the island. The reason of people who visit the sacred graveyard lies in their belief that the saints buried in a sacred graveyard are closer to God than those of ordinary people. The people believe that their prayers will be surely granted through an intermediary of spirits who are buried in the graveyard. Nevertheless, visiting sacred graveyard has been deemed problematic, there are people who still criticize and condemn this practice. Even so, many Javanese still practice sacred graveyard visiting and its culture today. With great anticipation, the researcher hopes that this study can contribute to provide data about the present phenomena of small-scale religious tourism. This study also tries to give a new insight in tourism studies in the discussion of the revitalization of small-scale religious tourism.