“The strangers within our gates”: managing visitors at Temple Square

Abstract

While religious travel to religious sites has existed for millennia, only recently has this phenomenon been examined by tourism scholars. Within the research on religious site management, the empirical nature of the organizational and operational management of sacred sites has been understudied in the tourism management literature.

The purpose of this paper is to correct this deficiency by examining the management structure and practices at Temple Square, the spiritual center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‐day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah. This is done through briefly examining both the historical development tourism at Temple Square and the theological reasoning behind its current tourism‐oriented organization and lack of commodification.

Keywords:

• religious tourism
• management
• theology
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‐day Saints