Religious Tourism is also known as faith Tourism. It is a type of tourism where people travel individually or in a group for pilgrimage or leisure (fellowship) purposes. Normally these type of people travel to places like Mecca, Medina, and Karbala, Vatican City for Hajj pilgrimage. Azerbaijan also as a country has a big potential in Religious tourism. In general about 2 mill international arrivals calculated in Azerbaijan (State Statistic, 2016). According the State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan (2016) motivation of tourists is leisure and recreation (668,8 thous.), business (632,3 thous.), visiting friends and relatives (542 thous.), treatment tourism (36,5 thous.), religious tourism (11,5 thous.), other (115,1 thous.) Although Azerbaijan is quite a secular country, exist some interesting resources for religious tourism. These are shrine of Zoroastrianism (Ateshgah), Christian heritage of Caucasian Albania, and mosques of Islam. A number of former Caucasian Albanian churches have survived in North West part of Azerbaijan. Most of them are abandoned and wrecked, others turned into a museum
These are most important locations have to be included into the itineraries of religious
tourists:
– Kish (the main church “Mother of Churches”, museum now);
– Sheki (in one church is museum, others are abandoned);
– Yukhari Tala village (abandoned);
– Nij (the only active church is Jotari, another Churches in the town (Bulun and Gyoy) are abandoned);
– Qakh (Lakit) (complex of 7 Churches, abandoned);
– Ilisu (ruins);
– Qum village (the walls of Church survived);
– Mamrukh village (near Zagatala, abandoned ruins);
– Balakan (abandoned, in woodland);
– Pipan (abandoned, ruins).