Cultural Tourism

Mursaleen Hamed Saeed Abbas
Supervision: Asst. Prof. Dr. Najlaa Karim Mahdi

The concept of tourism: Tourism linguistically means wandering, as we find the phrase “traveled” in the land, meaning “went”, and “walked on the face of the earth”. The word tourism is one of the words used in Latin languages. In English, we find that the phrase “tour” means “to wander” and “to circle”, while the word “toursim” derived from “tour” means to move and circle. (Al-Hawri, Ismaili, 2016: p. 41)

Technically: It is moving from one place to another for pleasure or to do business and to stay abroad for at least more than one night and for a period not exceeding a year (Al-Dulaimi, Al-Amari, 2018: p. 262).
Cultural tourism is the type of tourism related to travel that aims to discover historical sites, archaeological sites and buildings, in addition to intangible elements of attraction represented by the living heritage of the tourist area, such as the social structure, values ​​and customs (Al-Lahham, 2007: p. 33). Cultural tourism is an activity carried out by an individual or a group of individuals that involves movement from one place to another or from one country to another for the purpose of performing a specific task and visiting a specific place or several places and adding new information or observations and meeting with various peoples and nationalities and raising the level of performance of peoples and their culture and spreading their history, civilizations, customs and traditions. This type of tourism aims to satisfy the needs and desires of the tourist (Boukern, Al-Khadir, 2015: p. 17). Cultural tourism is a phenomenon of the era that arises from the increasing need for comfort, change of place and to enjoy the beauty of nature and feel it (Talib 2013, p. 301). Cultural tourism is defined as tourism that the tourist aims to gain information and expand His culture, in addition to his knowledge, has several sources such as exhibitions, museums, official cultural activities, and archaeological sites. It is also one of the types of tourism that has recently become popular (Bazhazo, 2008: p. 89). Cultural tourism is known as one of the most important tourism fields in which the tourist gains experience and sometimes participates in the lifestyle, and this remains engraved in the human memory (Ibrahim, 2006: p. 139). Cultural tourism is the individual’s possession of a certain amount of knowledge, information, skills, and values ​​that represent a suitable background for him to behave in a rational touristic manner, as well as the necessary processes for planning, organizing, and dealing with institutions, tourist sites, and tourists (Zahran, 2004, p. 24). Cultural tourism is a complex concept because it consists of two terms, which are tourism and culture. Because each term is in itself difficult to define, we find many writings that show that cultural tourism is the consumption of culture by tourists (Al-Quraishi, 2016: pp. 12-13). This type is considered one of the most advanced types because it attracts tourists from senior Age, cultured people, scientists, and these tourists certainly have a high financial level, good health, and do not offend the customs and traditions of the visited country (Tawfiq 1997: p. 64). Cultural tourism was defined in the book Modern Tourism, scientifically and practically, as being of a mental nature in particular. It is the tourism that seeks to know new things and specific people, as well as seeking to learn about their history and customs in the same real framework in which they live (Mahmoud, 2016: p. 17). Cultural tourism is defined as that tourism that is rich in ancient and modern civilizations and is considered a promotion of thought and the soul (Alam, 2007: p. 29).