Segmenting and Profiling Psychological-Demographic Behavior of Karbala Pilgrims Attending the Annual Arbaeen Rituals: A Case Study of Pilgrims Crossing Khuzestan Province's Air and Land Borders

Religious tourism is one of the five main branches of tourism according to the World Trade Organization. The popularity of pilgrimage has increased in recent decades, and religious tourism has been an important part of the dynamics of the world tourism economy. Therefore, this applied descriptive-survey study sought to segment and determine the psychological-demographic and behavioral profile of Karbala pilgrims attending the annual Arbaeen rituals. The statistical population of the study comprised of the pilgrims of Karbala who have traveled through the borders of Khuzestan province to attend the Arbaeen rituals. The neural network algorithm was used to analyze the data via self-organizing maps. The study's findings indicated that there were three different groups of pilgrims with different travel motives, who were categorized as a) being more tourist than a pilgrim (tourist pilgrim), b) being more pilgrim than a tourist (pilgrim tourist), and c) pilgrims. These three groups of tourists were named after leisureists, enthusiasts of various activities, and religious people, suggesting that each type of pilgrim had its own psychological, demographic, and behavioral characteristics. Therefore, marketing strategies for developing tourism activities should be set based on the characteristics of each type of tourist.