Definition of Tourism in General and Religious Tourism in Particular‍
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By: Muhammad Riyad Kazim Supervised by: Yasmine Hatem Badid‍
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A) Tourism in general is defined as an activity that involves a change in place and time (2).‍
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From an economic point of view, the majority of definitions focus on the spatial concept of tourism, as a person is considered a tourist if he moves from his place of residence to another after covering a limited distance. Many early tourism organizations took the individual’s travel of 50 miles (excluding going to the work site) as a criterion for determining whether the activity is tourism, but other organizations increase the distance traveled to one hundred miles, provided that he stays at least one night away from his residence.‍
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B) Religious tourism is defined as traveling from one country to another or moving within the borders of a specific country to visit holy places. It is a tourism that cares about the spiritual side of the human being. It is also a mixture of religious and heritage contemplation for the purpose of calling and getting closer to God. The city of Karbala is considered a “primary” destination for religious visits, and millions of visitors come to it from inside and outside Iraq. Therefore, it becomes a basic base for religious tourism in Iraq. This can be proven through some indicators of hotels in Karbala. Some indicators of hotels in Karbala relative to the total of Iraq for the year 2004‍
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* That “Karbala Governorate ranked first with the highest percentage in terms of the number of hotels with a percentage of 44.9% followed by Najaf Governorate with a percentage of 23.2% followed by Baghdad Governorate with a percentage of 22.1% then Basra with a percentage of 3.2%, indicating that the private sector of the total of these hotels constituted 99.6%”‍
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**Where it was announced in the statistics of 6/24/2016, the Central Statistical Organization announced, on Saturday, an increase in the number of hotels in Iraq, indicating that Karbala ranked first in the total number of hotels and guests‍
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(1) Lecturer / Al-Mustansiriya University / College of Administration and Economics / Department of Tourism and Hotel Management‍
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(2) – Dr. Hamid Al-Taie, Principles of Tourism Industry, Al-Warraq Foundation, Amman 2001, p. 21.‍
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*Economic Gilgamesh Press, Central Statistical Organization of the Ministry of Planning‍
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**Central Statistical Organization, Alsumaria News‍