A study on religious tourists’ motivations: the case of the Muharram event (Yazd, Iran)

• Reza Bahadori ; Neda Farsani ^[1] ; Rasool Sadeghi ; Zahed Shafiei ^[1] ; Mohammad Mortazavy ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Isfahan

     University of Isfahan

     Irán

     
• Localización: Revista Turismo & Desenvolvimento, ISSN 1645-9261, Nº. 27-28, 2, 2017 (Ejemplar dedicado a: INVTUR 2017 Intl' Conference), págs. 129-132
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto Completo Ejemplar
• Resumen

  • According to Rinschede (1992), religious tourism is a form of tourism that is exclusively or strongly motivated for religious reasons. It can be said that religious tourism is one of the oldest types of tourism and a worldwide phenomenon of religious history. Robinson and Novelli (2005) studied religious tourism under cultural tourism. Since the majority of Iranians associate themselves with the Shi’a branch of Islam, Iran can be a destination for religious tourism with an emphasis on Islam. Among the religious cities in Iran, Yazd, which is called the house of worship (Darolebadeh), not only includes historical religious sites but also organizes religious workshops and festivals. One of the most important religious festivals in Yazd is The Day of Ashura. It is commemorated by Shi’a Muslims as a day of mourning for the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad at the Battle of Karbala on Muharram 10th in the year 61 AH. Nakhl Gardani (carrying the large symbolic wooden coffin in the shape of a cypress) is another mourning custom on Ashura. This one is uniquely held in central Iran, particularly in Yazd. The major objective of this study is to investigate motivations of religious tourists in Yazd city. Data was gathered through a questionnaire applied during The Day of Ashura (in 2015).