The visitors today paid great attention to the workshop about religious tourism. Projects which are being realised, or are just about to be, were presented in a completely full hall. Another theme talked about was the economic potential of religious tourism, pilgrimage trails and tourism which is in some way related to the issue. The participation of the Cardinal Dominik Duka caught great interest of many visitors.

Duka remarked in the beginning that this was his second time participating in the workshop. “I am glad that the question of historic and modern religious objects is part of the Travel Trade Fair. Man is a being who moves about, pilgrimage trails are characteristic to all religions and for Christianity they are typical,” said the Cardinal among other things, welcoming the Trade Fairs' and other discussion participants' interest in the issue. During the seminar he also congratulated the Zlín region on carrying the baton in the future.

At the workshop, the representatives of the Zlín region, Jindřich Ondruš and Zdeněk Urbanovský, introduced in detail the project Open Gates, which has been helping to access religious objects of the Zlín region to the public for three years, and presented grand plans for Velehrad in 2013 which are related to the upcoming Cyril and Methodius anniversary. Together with the Italian representative of the organisation of European pilgrimage trails Cammini d'Europa they outlined marketing possibilities which are enabled by international cooperation and involvement in the European net. “In the Open Gates project we have made twenty churches and one cemetery accessible, 140 jobs have been created and quality promotional materials have been made,” Jindřich Ondruš summed up some of the benefits of the project, also saying that on the spot the visitors will always find a trained guide who, in full, weekend or mixed programme, will provide them with information they need. The project is not only aimed at believers, but also non-believers who would otherwise never visit the church. The idea is also supported by the Archbishop of Olomouc Jan Graubner. “ I have been welcoming all this activity from the beginning. In the past we were used to open churches, it was a common thing until 1990. Then the churches started to get locked, mainly because they were getting burgled, and it is good that this initiative allows people to visit and get to know religious objects once again.”

A big part of the workshop was dedicated to pilgrims and pilgrimage trails. The issue was outlined by Zuzana Vojtová, the head of Tourist Authority South Moravia, who talked about the newly created Way of St. James in South Moravia. “Last year the route was marked out from Brno to Mikulov and then Lower Austria,” she remarked, also saying that the pilgrims going to the famous pilgrim destination Santiago de Compostela have about 180 km of marked out routes available in South Moravia. During a lively discussion people talked about the pilgrims' experience in the Czech Republic and abroad and their needs in accommodation and other services. In this context numerous questions were asked about the possibilities of using contemporary religious objects.

The economic potential of religious tourism in Europe was pointed out by Mojmír Mikula of CzechTourism and also economy expert of Česká spořitelna and member of the advisory group NERV Petr Zahradník. A lot of interesting numbers were mentioned, for example: tourism makes directly 5% of the European Union's GDP (750 billion EUR) and indirectly up to 10% GDP. In 2010 the earnings accomplished by international tourism in EU were approximately 310 billion EUR. “Five European countries – France, Spain, Italy, Great Britain and Germany – are among the TOP ten biggest world destinations. Especially the first three are countries where religious monuments represent great potential, my rough estimate is that 10% of the turnover is connected to religious tourism,” said Petr Zahradník. According to him, religious tourism in the Czech republic can be positively influenced by a number of factors, e.g. successful completion of restitutions.

“Religious tourism and sacral monuments are a great issue. We are lucky that there are demands here and on the other hand we have many monuments to offer in the Czech Republic,” Rostislav Vondruška, the head of CzechTourism, confirmed at the workshop. His words were supported by the Minister of Regional Development Michal Janeba. “I am glad that CzechTourism can present some of the projects in religious tourism and that as the Ministry of Regional Development we can be helpful.”