The resilience of religious tourism, despite increasing secularization, can be attributed to the key socio-cultural transformations of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The globalization, the rise of mass tourism, accelerated corporate-consumer lifestyles, and post-secular trends in religious practices have collectively introduced underexplored implications for religious tourism. Here, we present findings from surveys (n = 3957) conducted during tourist seasons from 2019 to 2023 at twelve of the most popular Roman Catholic pilgrimage centres in Poland. The research aims were to characterize contemporary religious tourists, to analyse the impact of socio-demographic factors on their attributes, and to contextualize these findings within frameworks of the experience economy and the multifaceted attachment. The results revealed differences in perception, motivation, behaviour, and satisfaction based on respondents' socio-demographic characteristics. When viewed through the lenses of the experience economy and multifaceted place attachment, the insights provide a comprehensive understanding of current religious tourism dynamics and underscore the importance of adapting to changing socio-cultural conditions. Furthermore, they contribute to the development of tourism offerings and the effective site management. The proposed model synthesizes these findings, outlining the evolving attributes of religious tourists over time, and offering a comprehensive summary of the current state of knowledge.