“Queen of Peace”

An apparition of the Virgin Mary is claimed to have been spotted in the village of Međugorje in the winemaking hills of Herzegovina in June 1981. Six children and teenagers formed the group of original “seers”, who claimed that Mary spoke to them, described herself as the “Queen of Peace” and exhorted people to convert to Catholicism in order to know joy and peace. At that time, the village was in communist Yugoslavia, which would break up amid inter-ethnic wars ten years later.

Since the eighties then, Catholic pilgrims have been making the journey to Međugorje and some of the seers have claimed to have had other meetings with Mary,  but the Church had until now failed to recognise the appearance of the Madonna. The latest news from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, with the assent of Pope Francis, grants approval for acts of devotion linked to Medjugorje.

“Positive fruits” and no negative or dangerous effects

However, the Vatican has not gone as far as confirming any miracle or apparition in the village. The decision only authorises acts of devotion because “many positive fruits have been noted in the midst of a spiritual experience, while negative and dangerous effects have not spread among the People of God.”

Visits by those “People of God” numbered 1.7 million in 2023 alone, according to the Međugorje shrine’s website data on how many Eucharist wafers were handed out. When it comes to the “positive fruits” of pilgrimage sites, locals might well point to their thriving tourist industry, alive with around a thousand rooms in hotels, guest houses, farm enterprises and campsites, for a village of under 2,500 people.

Lourdes makes €140 million pivot

But with religious belief on the wane in Europe, other sites of pilgrimage, such as Lourdes in southwest France are seeking new tourism channels and pivoting away from their holy reputations. Unlike Međugorje, the Virgin Mary’s appearance to a local girl in Lourdes in 1858 has been confirmed by the Vatican, but that did not save the town of just 15,000 inhabitants when Covid-19 struck, wiping five or six million annual tourists and around €270 million in yearly tourism revenue from their bottom line. It is now investing around €140 million from the French State to help it transition to a broader-based, more secular tourism offer.

L’article New destination emerges on religious tourism landscape est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

Miserable anniversary

At 2,067 metres (6,780 feet), Mount Bjelašnica, on the southwestern outskirts of Sarajevo, should have an Alpine tundra climate and has a reputation as being one of the most affordable ski offerings in Europe. But it is suffering the same fate as many lower altitude resorts around the world, with smaller snowsport destinations below 1,500 metres (4,920ft) particularly hard hit, according to National Geographic.

The Bosnian season has seen a warm December, the world’s warmest January, and only a short spell of colder temperatures and snow before another melt in February. It’s a miserable way to mark the 40^th anniversary of 1984’s Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, with ski cannons idle and skiers pictured on narrow strips of snow among fields of mud.

Three months of snow could be lost

The Alpine climate has suffered a temperature rise of 2°C over the last 100 years. If greenhouse emissions continue at today’s rates, says a Hydrology and Earth System Sciences study, then by the year 2100 even elevations of 2,500 metres and above (8,200ft) are predicted to lose three months of snow. 

Another study led by the University of Grenoble and Meteo France found as many as 1,184 ski resorts, across 28 European countries could be in jeopardy with global warming of 2°C. That’s over half the ski resorts studied, and that figure reaches a colossal 98% of them at risk if global warming reaches 4°C.

Many ski destinations have turned towards artificial snow and are wrestling with how to make the electricity and water intensive process more sustainable. Others are looking at solutions such as indoor skiing in snow tunnels. But will snowsport enthusiasts still want to come? 

Still, other resorts are already diversifying to offer “four season” reasons to visit, developing spas, hiking, biking and climbing as alternative income streams throughout the year.

The Tourism Bosnia and Herzegovina website is still getting there. It continues to describe the area as having a “collision of the air masses from the mountains and the sea (which) causes large amounts of snow to fall and this is the reason why Bjelašnica is covered with snow from November to May. Sometimes in the summer months as well.” But the agency’s outdoor pages also promote hiking, biking and visiting Sarajevo among its offering.

L’article Skiers greeted by mud not snow in Bosnia’s Mount Bjelašnica est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.