Abstract
Motivating all kinds of tourists, including pilgrims, to engage in pro-environmental behavior is essential to minimize the adverse impacts of tourism on the environment and progress toward sustainability goals. Religion, despite its massive impacts on human lives, decision-making, and behavior, has not yet received much attention from tourism scholars in this regard. This chapter argues that religions contain environmental teachings, which can be used in promoting tourists’ pro-environmental behavior. This chapter has discussed the role of religion in shaping environmental ideologies and the human-nature relationship in religions. Moreover, it has highlighted the importance of overcoming ignorance, sanctification of nature, promoting eco-spirituality, empowering and engaging root-level religious leaders in environmental education, and inter-religion coordination for reducing the environmental footprints of tourism through engaging religious tourists in pro-environmental behavior.