TEHRAN – A total of thirteen tourism-related projects, worth 2.1 trillion rials ($50 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials), are scheduled to come on stream in the northeastern Khorasan Razavi province on the occasion of the Government Week (August 23-30).

The projects include hotels, apartment hotels, guest houses, recreation centers, eco-lodge units and tourism complexes in different cities across the province, IRNA quoted Abolfazl Mokaramifar, the provincial tourism chief, as saying on Saturday.

The mentioned projects will generate job opportunities for over 290 people, the official added.

Before the coronavirus puts everything on lockdown, the provincial capital of Mashhad played host to thousands of travelers and pilgrims who come from various Iranian cities, neighboring countries, and even across the globe to visit the imposing, massive holy shrine complex of Imam Reza (AS), the eighth Imam of the Shia Muslims.

Almost 40 million Iranian pilgrims and travelers visited the city during the last Iranian calendar year (ended March 19).

Dozens of five-star hotels and hostels are dotted around the holy shrine. The city has also the highest concentration of water parks in the country, and it also embraces a variety of cultural and historical sites that are generally crowded.

ABU/MG