Bobby Ansari, Rose of Jericho Tours

View the her Presentation.

The capstone project is about spiritual tourism as a whole, how it ties in to the overall Wellness Tourism industry, how Spiritual Wellness is one of the basic pillars of basic wellness, what my credentials are and why I think a more individualized approach for spiritual tourism is needed for true, deep transformation change for those looking for it. The idea is the basis for Rose of Jericho Tours - A Travel Apothecary for the Soul, where I will be dispensing "travel prescriptions" based on individual personal spiritual assessments and a detailed questionaire. The idea is that there are 3 tiers of services/products 1) The Travel Apothercary where it begins and ends with the travel prescription and the client can take it from there on their own 2) Designing spiritual retreats on a whole plethora of issues and topics which the therapeutic communities have made major strides in the last 10-15 years but the retreat world has yet to catch up on 3) Bespoke tours which is the whole package, designng ceremony and ritual and in this case accompanying the client as a spirtual guide on their "quest tour".

I created this project because of my own personal interest in spirituality, spiritual tourism, my academic knowledge of many religions and faith traditions, as a Spiritual Care Professional and a Certified Wellness Professional and my intercultural and interfaith fluency. Moreover the market suggests strongly that there are clients looking for deeper and more meaningful kinds of trips and retreats but unfortunately there is no market oversight to guide these persons away from the fake shamans and gurus, I hope at least to be able to advise these clients of where to go for a legitimate, authentic experience with responsible providers (i.e for ayahuasca, sweat lodges, ashrams etc.)

My intended outcome is that I at least become a trusted and respected voice and advocate for spiritual tourism , eventually start a consuting business on this very topic and in time, start a business dispensing travel prescriptions, designing retreats and creating trips around the topic of spiritual tourism. The information from the TTC which proved to be very insightful were the topics of the questionnaire BEFORE the trip, managing traveler's expectations, and understanding that this is as much of a process for myself as it is for the client.

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