Nearly 280 Catholic pilgrimage companies, travel agencies, mission trip organizers, and retreat travel planners are listed in the Discover Catholic Business directory. The data reveals a small but mature sector with strong web presence, a clear Sun Belt concentration, and a business model built almost entirely on trust.
Every pilgrimage begins with a question: who do I trust to get me to Lourdes, to Rome, to the Holy Land, or to a shrine three states away? For most Catholic families, that question is answered by a recommendation from a pastor or a friend. The 277 companies in this dataset are the businesses those recommendations point to, and the numbers tell you a lot about where Catholic travel is strong and where it is still growing.
Of the 277 visible Catholic pilgrimage listings, 155 carry high-quality scores, a rate of 56 percent. That is a solid figure for a category built on small, often family-run travel agencies. It reflects the professional reality of the industry: a pilgrimage company that cannot be found online, contacted by phone, and vetted through a website does not last long. A total of 183 of the 277 listings include a working website, which is a 66 percent web-presence rate.
The timing of this report matters. The Jubilee Year of 2025 concluded in early January 2026, and the companies in this dataset spent the last two years moving Catholic groups through the Holy Doors in Rome. The 2026 travel season is the first post-Jubilee year, and the businesses below are the ones positioned to serve the next wave of Catholic pilgrims.
5 Key Findings from the Data
1. Florida leads all states, and it leads on quality. With 30 listings, Florida has the most Catholic pilgrimage and travel companies in the directory, and 26 of them (87 percent) score as high-quality. No other state combines volume and quality this way. Florida's large Catholic population, its retiree demographic with time and means to travel, and its established travel-agency culture all contribute.
2. Texas is second with 21 listings and an 86 percent quality rate. Eighteen of the 21 Texas listings are high-quality. Dallas, Houston, and the Hill Country each have pilgrimage operators, and the state is home to both traditional tour companies and mission-trip nonprofits.
3. The Midwest is a pilgrimage corridor. Michigan (14), Wisconsin (13), Illinois (13), Indiana (12), and Ohio (11) together account for 63 listings, nearly a quarter of the category. Wisconsin's numbers are driven in part by the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion, the only approved Marian apparition site in the United States, which has given rise to domestic pilgrimage tours.
4. Domestic pilgrimage is a growing business line. Several listings focus on American shrines rather than overseas trips. That includes walking pilgrimages, shrine circuits, and family pilgrimage vacations that combine sacred sites with scenic travel.
5. Mission trips share the category with pilgrimages. A meaningful subset of listings are nonprofits organizing short-term domestic and foreign mission trips for youth groups, parishes, and families. They are listed alongside commercial tour operators because Catholic families search for both in the same way.
Catholic Pilgrimage Companies by State
| State | Listings | High-Quality | Quality Rate | |-------|----------|--------------|--------------| | Florida | 30 | 26 | 87% | | Texas | 21 | 18 | 86% | | Pennsylvania | 15 | 8 | 53% | | Michigan | 14 | 12 | 86% | | Louisiana | 14 | 9 | 64% | | Wisconsin | 13 | 9 | 69% | | Illinois | 13 | 9 | 69% | | Indiana | 12 | 4 | 33% | | Ohio | 11 | 5 | 45% | | California | 11 | 3 | 27% |
The table shows a clear pattern: the states with the most listings are also, with the exception of Pennsylvania, the states with the highest quality rates. Florida, Texas, and Michigan each score above 85 percent. California's low quality rate (3 of 11) reflects older, less complete listings rather than a weak market, and it is the category's clearest enrichment opportunity.
Browse the full Florida Catholic business directory or the Texas Catholic business directory to see pilgrimage companies alongside the other categories in each state.
Where to Find a Catholic Pilgrimage Company in 2026
The directory's pilgrimages and travel category covers four distinct business types. Here is what each looks like, with real examples from the data.
Full-service Catholic tour operators. These are the companies that run group pilgrimages to Rome, the Holy Land, Fatima, Lourdes, and the Marian shrines of Europe. Vocatio Travel in Dallas, Texas, is a representative example. With principal offices in both Dallas and Rome, Vocatio offers pilgrimages, mission trips, and educational travel, and its Roman office gives it on-the-ground logistics that smaller agencies cannot match.
Custom and family pilgrimage planners. Divine Sunshine Travel in Slidell, Louisiana, designs what it calls PRAYcations: custom, high-end Catholic pilgrimages that blend sacred sites with scenic beauty for multigenerational families. This is a newer model in the category, aimed at families who want a pilgrimage that works for grandparents and grade-schoolers alike.
Domestic shrine and walking pilgrimages. Wisconsin Way Pilgrim Tours in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, markets itself as an American Camino. The Wisconsin Way route includes the Shrine of Our Lady of Champion and offers an alternative to overseas travel for Catholics who want the experience of a walking pilgrimage without a transatlantic flight.
Concierge travel agents with a Catholic focus. Going Places with Gonzo in Wichita, Kansas, provides personalized concierge travel services for individuals, couples, families, and groups, with Holy Land and European pilgrimage expertise. Barker Travel Crew in Warner Robins, Georgia, is Catholic-owned and veteran-operated, and serves both pilgrimage and general vacation travel.
For a step-by-step guide to vetting any of these companies, read How to Find a Catholic Pilgrimage, Travel Agency, or Retreat.
Catholic Mission Trip Organizations in the Directory
Mission trips are the other half of this category, and they operate on a different model. Most are nonprofits, and their customers are parishes, youth ministries, and Catholic schools rather than individual travelers.
Catholic Mission Trips in Huntsville, Texas, is a 501(c)(3) that equips Catholics to be missionary disciples through short-term foreign and domestic mission trips for youth groups and families. It is one of the highest-quality listings in the category and a good example of why mission organizations belong in a travel directory: they handle the same logistics (flights, lodging, insurance, group coordination) that a tour operator does, in service of a different purpose.
Vocatio Travel also runs mission trips alongside its pilgrimages, which reflects a broader trend. Catholic travel companies increasingly offer both, because the same parish that books a Holy Land pilgrimage for adults wants a mission trip for its teenagers the following summer.
What the Quality Data Says About Catholic Travel
The 57 percent overall quality rate for pilgrimage companies is close to the directory-wide figure. The high-quality listings share three traits: a working website, a phone number, and a specific description of what the company does. The low-quality listings tend to be older entries with a name and a city and little else.
This matters for consumers because pilgrimage is a high-trust purchase. A family spending several thousand dollars on a trip to Rome needs to verify the company before paying a deposit. The U.S. Travel Association publishes annual data on the broader American travel market, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks employment for travel agents nationally; both show that the travel agency profession has consolidated over the past two decades, with specialists surviving where generalists have not. Catholic pilgrimage companies are specialists by definition, and the survival of 277 of them in a single directory is evidence that the specialty model works.
What This Means for Catholics
For Catholic families planning a pilgrimage in 2026, the directory offers 277 starting points, 155 of which are verified high-quality operations with complete profiles. Florida, Texas, and Michigan are the deepest markets, but the Midwest corridor from Wisconsin to Ohio has strong domestic-pilgrimage options for families who prefer to stay in the country.
For Catholic travel companies, the data shows an opening. California has 11 listings and only 3 high-quality ones. New York has 9. Both states have large Catholic populations and few well-documented pilgrimage operators in the directory. A Catholic travel agent in either state who claims and completes a listing has almost no competition for that visibility.
The 46,000+ businesses in the Discover Catholic Business directory include every one of these companies. If you run a Catholic pilgrimage company, mission organization, or travel agency and are not yet listed, add your listing free. It takes less than five minutes and connects your business with Catholics who are actively planning their next trip.
Sources:
- Discover Catholic Business directory data, September 2026
- U.S. Travel Association, annual research on the U.S. travel market (https://www.ustravel.org/)
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Travel Agents (https://www.bls.gov/ooh/sales/travel-agents.htm)
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Jubilee 2025 resources (https://www.usccb.org/)