The Effects of religious ceremonies in production and reproduction of religious tourism (A case study of Zanjan city)

Tourism is an identity constructing and identity giving industry for different places and spaces that is formed through the presence of an absorbing element. This element might have a spatial –place nature or take a virtual entity to itself. Religious tourism is the spiritual type of tourism that today has attracted the attention of communities to itself. Religious tourism due to its effectiveness on creating a healthy and sustainable society plays an important role in giving identity to different places and spaces. Religious spaces، with regard to their spiritual dimension and nature not only create a sense of belonging to place in between the indigenous people، but also it leads to the creation of the sense of belonging among the tourists. This very issue causes the reproduction of religious tourism. In this research، using descriptive - explanation method، the role and influence of religious spaces in creating sense of place - space belonging in Zanjan city has been studied. The method of data collection in this study is documentary –field method. In the field method، 80 sample questionnaires were completed by tourists and the resulting data was described and analyzed by using SPSS software. Results shows that the type of spaces and method of holding the rituals in Zanjan city in Mohramm period make a sense of place belong among the tourists and reproduction of religious tourism. In addition، the promotion of the qualitative and quantitative level of ceremony leads to the increase of the tourists.