NEW MEDIA IN RELIGIOUS COMMUNICATION: SUPPORTING WYD MADRID 2011

by Alessandro Inversini, Lorenzo Cantoni, Silvia de Ascanis and Miriam Stefania

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and the internet have had, and are having, a major impact on tourism by deeply affecting the pre-, during and post- visit experience, as well as changing the business models. ICT and the internet are also playing an important role in mediating the religious experience (eReligion), yielding a number of experiences, studies as well as official documents within the Christian Catholic Church. This paper presents online communication activities of Word Youth Days (WYD), one of the most important religious youth events. A comparison and analysis is performed from the websites of the last three WYD editions and presents in detail a number activities done by the WYD2011 (Madrid, August 2011) to set-up and increase its online presence and visibility.

Keywords: World Youth Day, youth events tourism, eReligion, eTourism.

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