Lourdes contains 15,000 inhabitants and 16,000 tourists travel through and converse with the locals in a day accumulating five to six million total tourist each year. Lourdes was briskly able to adjust to the needs of people traveling in to view the grotto. The inhabitants of the town profit from the unique services fitted by centuries of experience, the rustic experience for retreats or leisurely exploration and just the simple significance to the Catholic faith and spirituality of many people. The value held from the tourist activities, goods and services are enormous especially for the livelihood of the town’s residents. The holy encounters of Mary to Bernadette have most certainly inspired so many countless believers to visit the Grotto and to pay their respect to Saint Bernadette and the Mother Mary but also to find their own spiritual peace. Differing from most other apparitions such as Guadalupe in Mexico, Fatima in Portugal and Knock in Ireland, Lourdes has a palpable symbol for the faithful to obtain which is often times desired in one’s faith. The grotto waters bring many, faithful or not, and bring about hope in humans of all faiths and lack …show more content…
Evidently, high risk and high investment accompany ventures in travel, especially in tourism where one voluntarily leaves his/her home for a temporary period to fulfill leisure. Risk and investment increase, correlating with the increase in distance traveled. Not only is the traveler’s health and safety at risk when venturing a great distance from familiar surroundings, he/she must also pay the necessary expenses to cover the cost of transportation and miscellaneous daily living expenses