Abstract Tourism is one of the most prosperous economic activities in the world and is so important in economic and social development of countries that economists have called invisible export. In the meantime, religious tourism, as a pilgrimage among all the international religions, especially the religion of Islam, plays a special place. In this study, the role of factors affecting the increase of religious tourism demand has been investigated. The research is based on a review of findings reported in previous research. Studies have presented a variety of factors that affect the demand for religious tourism, the most important of which could be divided into three groups: infrastructure factors, drivers and barriers to religious tourism. Infrastructure factors include transportation, food and restaurants, services and attractions. Drivers describe existing information (advertising), coordination between related organizations, the appropriateness of route systems, identifying the motivation and beliefs of tourists, online resources, tourism research, tourist safety, accessibility of sites, expansion of spaces and associated facilities. Finally, barriers to religious tourism embrace poor management, lack of a communication network structure, and absence of professional support.

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