72 Copyright © 2019, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 5 DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-5730-2.ch005 ABSTRACT The singularities of the pilgrimage to the Virgin of El Cisne in the South of Ecuador identify it as a unique religious event. It was decreed by Simón Bolívar. It has a circular route spacing in time, and since its origin, it has a tourist focus while at the same time performing the Loja Fair Trade also created by the Liberator for boosting the infux of pilgrims venerating the Virgin. INTRODUCTION Describe the general perspective of the chapter. End by specifically stating the objectives of the chapter. “Religious tourism” is a newly emerging concept. According to Garay and Cànoves (2011), it is closely linked to the emergence of the so-called “post-Fordist passenger cars”, deeply rooted in the Anglo-Saxon setting. However, authors like Raj and Morpeth (2007) value it as a sustainable and ever- growing international phenomenon worldwide. It is an increasingly significant segment of the global Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage to the Ecuadorian Andes: The Case of the Virgin of El Cisne María Magdalena Rodríguez Fernández University of A Coruña, Spain Eva Sánchez-Amboage University of A Coruña, Spain Matías Enrique Membiela-Pollán University of A Coruña, Spain Valentín Alejandro Martínez-Fernández University of A Coruña, Spain