HALÁSZKIRÁLYOK HANGHULLÁMAI.

The older people are presented as active tourists (especially in the countries with higher life standards), but the authors can't overlook the fact that is not always the case. There is only a limited chance for those dealing with poverty and health issues. The religious tourism provides a great opportunity to overcome these problems (at least partially) and can involve the older people living in poverty and with poor health. The main objective of the research was to explore the experiences of old people in religious tourism. The snowball sample was of 345 Hungarian respondents who travelled to religious events and/or participated at pilgrimages in the previous three years. 21% of the respondents were 60 and older, but the opinions of the younger were also useful to cover the different aspects of being old. Open questions were analysed. The aim of the present paper is to bridge this research gap through the analysis of seniors' narratives and fragments of stories applying the legend of the Fisher King that, in the authors' understanding, well reflects the problems of late life. It is acknowledged that the simplistic categorization of the 'old' according to the age group is very restrictive and seniors represent a heterogeneous group with different priorities, wishes and needs. The legend of the Fisher King is considered to be helpful to address the key issues that emerged from the narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]