Religious tourism -tourism that is motivated by faith or religious reasonshas been in evidence for centuries. In more recent times, however, it has been suggested that modern tourism has become the functional and symbolic equivalent of more traditional religious practices, such as festivals and pilgrimages. In other words, it is claimed by some that tourism is a sacred journey. To date, however, little work has been undertaken to explore this position; the purpose of this paper, therefore, is to contribute to this debate. Based on an exploratory study, it considers the motivations and experiences of Western tourists visiting the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and the nearby utopian township of Auroville in Pondicherry, south east India. It identifies two principal groups of visitors, namely 'permanent tourists' who have immersed themselves indefinitely in a spiritual 'Other', and temporary visitors. The latter are categorised into sub-groups which point to a variety of spiritual and non-spiritual motives. The paper concludes that there is a continuum of spirituality inherent in tourism, though this is related to tourists' experience rather than initial motivation.

Various anti-microbial treatments were studied with respect to their use for the sheif-h'fe extension of meat and meat products. The treatments studied were bacteriocins (pediocin AcH and nisin), organic acids, immobilization, ion chelators, high pressure and irradiation. These were then compared using statistical analysis so as to identify treatment effects on the dynamics of growth of the spoilage bacteria. The experiments focused especially on exploiting the potendal of pediocin AcH for this purpose. Statistical analysis of preliminary data indicated that pediocin AcH had an inhibitory effect on meat microflora although the level of the activity was not adequate for a significant extension in shelf life. Also the effect of pediocin when used in conjunction with immobilization and organic acids was not very clear. Of the organic acids, acetic acid proved more effective in reducing and controlling the numbers of spoilage microflora. In order to study the use of pediocin AcH, large amounts of the bacteriocin were needed. The first step of the study was therefore geared towards the production of large amounts of the bacteriocin and the analysis of the prepared solution for its level of purity. A scale-up method was developed for the purification of pediocin from 50 liters of culture. Next, the action of the bacteriocin on Listeria monocytogenes, cells in both broth and meat systems was studied. This was done primarily to address the issue of bacteriocin activity in foods systems. Pediocin AcH at 200,000 arbitrary units (ALT) effected greater reduction of microbial numbers when acting in combination with 1.5% lactic acid than when used alone. This anti-listerial activity and additive effect were adversely affected by increasing salt concentrations. In the next step, Pediocin AcH was applied to various samples of ground beef and the surviving microflora isolated and characterized. With low levels of bacteriocin (10,000 AU/g) the survivors consisted most of Staphylococcus aureus. Micrococcus luteus, Pseudomonas spp., Acinetobacter spp., some lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and Bacillus spp., most of which dominate spoilage microflora of meat. Increasing the level of Pediocin to 100,0(X) AU/g caused a decrease in the numbers ofS. aureus, M. luteus, LAB and Bacillus spp. but did not affect Pseudomonas spp. and Acinetobacter spp. The persistence of Pediocin AcH in raw and cooked meat was studied at different storage temperatures. The bacteriocin persisted in sterile raw ground meat for up to 4 d at 25°C, for 15 d at 7°C and for more than 6 months in frozen samples. In cooked meat, bacteriocin was detectable for up to 6 d when stored at 25°C and for more than 3 months at 4°C. The bacteriocin also remained unaffected by irradiation up to doses of 7.0 kGy and high hydrostatic pressure of up to 100 kpsi. The next experiment focused on determining if the use of ion chelators (like EDTA and Maltol), Triton X-IOO, and Tween 80 in conjunction with pediocin extended the target range of the bacteriocin to gram-negative bacteria. The e...