Murad Gattal What makes journey a religious pilgrimage? Tourism and pilgrimage: classification Humans travelled from the very beginning of their existence. In prehistoric times homo sapiens migrated from East Africa in searching for new territories to live and new resources to feed themselves and finally populated almost all regions of the world (Bellwood 2013). In historical times we can observe nomadic migrations and colonizations (Bell-Fialkoff 2000). From antiquity to modernity there were very many reasons for people to move from one place to another (travel): military campaigns, trade, immigration, urbanization and ruleization, forced migration (slave trade, human trafficking, deportations, refuge), education, exploration, treatment, recreation, sports, seasonal work, religious pilgrimage etc. (Petersen 1958, Shpilko 2008). In this work I will consider the characteristics of religious pilgrimage and what makes it different from such close practices like religious tourism and secular pilgrimage. The Motivation United Nations World Tourism Organization defines tourism as a trip to a main destination outside one’s usual environment, for less than a year, for any main purpose (business, leisure or other personal purpose) other than to be employed by a resident entity in the country or place visited (WTO 2010). And it also lists the types of tourism by purpose: cultural, business, ecological, gastronomy, rural, coastal, maritime and inland water, adventure, urban/city, health, mountain, wellness, education, medical, sport (WTO 2019). According to this division any travel for less than a year with religious motivation could be considered as a cultural tourism: “a type of tourism activity in which the visitor’s essential motivation is to learn, discover, experience and consume ... a set of distinctive material, intellectual, spiritual and emotional features of a society that encompasses arts and architecture, historical and cultural heritage, culinary heritage, literature, music, creative industries and the living cultures with their lifestyles, value systems, beliefs and traditions” (WTO 2019). Although these definition and division are official they are too formal. They satisfy the needs of the tourism industry but social scientists and particularly anthropologists have different approaches in understanding the phenomena of tourism, travel and pilgrimage (Shpilko 2008, Nash and Smith 1991). Knox and Hannam demonstrate that the crucial characteristic of tourism that distinguish it from other types of travel including pilgrimage is motivation. Sightseeing or beach tourists, backpackers, those who visit music festival, practice extreme sport, sex tourists and stag party participants travel in their leisure time and are driven by hedonistic motives. In contrast, pilgrims, both religious and secular, visit a place of significant personal importance, they are more serious and purposeful travelers (Knox et al. 2014) and have very strong desire to perform a journey to a place they consider sacred (Baylagasov and Goppa 2016). Their motives are based on religious or spiritual inspiration, pilgrims seek a specific even transcendental encounter with a sacred object (Margry 2008). Margry mentions that religious pilgrims “expect salvation, healing and solace, or hopes to effect a cure” achieved through the whole journey or through the visit to a sacred space. Aims of secular pilgrimages could be various: to commemorate a historical event or hero (Dubish 2004, de Jonge 2008, Scates 2002), visit the land of ancestors (Schramm 2004), cultural and natural objects of great significance based on personal, patriotic or ideological sentiments (Vatoropin et al. 2017).