The Economic Importance of Religious Tourism

Nour Salman Saleh
Supervised by: Lect. Ahmed Obaid Oraibi

Religious tourism is an economic resource of great importance, no less vital than the oil resource in any country, thanks to the holy shrines and holy shrines that Iraq possesses. These Iraqi shrines and shrines have made the country a favorite destination for visitors from different countries. Therefore, attention to tourism services in Iraq is required to develop this vital sector that has not received sufficient attention over the past decades (Al-Masoudi, 2009, p. 15)

In continuation of the above, religious tourism has excellent importance for peoples and countries, including what is related to the social, economic, spiritual, cultural, and civilizational fields, etc., and its profound impact on the interior of the human soul and its orientations, whether in its Islamic or non-Islamic religious capacity and what is determined by the orientations of religions, doctrines, sects and religions (Muhammad, 2015, p. 22)

In turn, religious tourism has its urban and archaeological characteristics and importance in the movement of peoples and their orientations, whether this results from the characteristics, features, motives, or sites, with their generalities and specificities emanating from them, material and non-material, psychological and spiritual…
From this profound impact on the human soul, religious beliefs and tendencies, and its religious places with a spiritual relationship emanating from those beliefs and visiting those holy places, are In itself, it generates the tourist movement towards that site and falls under the field of religious tourism, which is one of the types of tourism (Hassan et al., 2020, p. 242). This religious tourism movement must generate two dimensions: spending and revenue, which encourages investment within this civilizational movement, especially if it is mature and inclusive, i.e., governed by the intellectual awareness of these sacred rituals (Ayman and Waseem 2022, p. 52).