Nowadays tourism has become one of the major social and economic phenomena that spread around the world and became part of our daily routine. Millions of people travel every day, internationally and domestically, with different intentions and motives. In 1987, Chadwick provided a simplified categorisation of travelling motivations that included three main headings: pleasure, professional and other purposes (Mason, 2015). The seeking for pleasure is one of the most prevalent motivation in contemporary tourism because people want to escape from the daily routine for leisure purposes of relaxations, spending time with loved ones or engaging with destination’s culture (Ryan, 2002). In recent years, the desire to explore other cultures has led to an increase in the number of cultural tourists. According to World Tourism Organisation (WTO), cited in Timothy (2011, p. 23), ‘approximately half of all international trips every year involve visits to cultural heritage sites’. This fact raises questions about the decision-making process and motives for cultural/heritage tourism. For instance, what factors influence travellers to choose cultural tourism in favour to more traditional vacation? Therefore, the aim of this essay is to find answers for these questions and to analyse motivations of contemporary Western leisure tourists with a specific reference to cultural/heritage tourism. The essay will provide a reader with definitions of motivation and cultural/heritage tourism, as well