TEHRAN – Mashhad, a prime destination for Shia pilgrims and medical travelers in northeast Iran, has recorded some four million overnight stays, mainly by domestic travelers, in the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21).

“3,951,000 overnight stays have been recorded for the first three months of the year at authorized accommodation centers such as hotels, traditional lodging houses, apartment hotels, and guest houses,” the tourism chief of Khorasan Razavi province said on Monday.

The overnight stays were made by 1,312,000 passengers, Seyyed Javad Mousavi said. “During the period [the average of] hotel occupancy rate in Mashhad reached is currently at 66.8%.”

Mashhad’s medical tourism revenues were about $2.2 million in the first three months of the current Iranian year.Mashhad, the provincial capital, is Iran’s holiest and second-largest city. Its raison d’être is the striking shrine complex of the eighth Shia Imam that is encircled by dozens of five-star hotels and many other accommodation centers. Mashhad and the buffer zone of the complex present a unique approach and exercise towards the development of pilgrimage areas during history concerning a city and its religious core, in a way that the expression of the pilgrimage concept can be vividly seen in the architectural and urban planning of the city.

The Imam Reza complex, in general, also in detail enjoys unique creativity and genius, altogether has formed a unique cultural and artistic masterpiece all over the world. The architectural design of the complex has also complied with these traditions and rituals to address the needs of people and the urban landscape. Every year, over 20 million pilgrims visit the holy shrine and perform a set of traditions, one of which is the upper-mentioned salutation rituals.

A promising hub for medical tourism

Mashhad’s medical tourism revenues were about 1.119 trillion rials (some $2.2 million) during the first three months of the current Iranian year, which shows 35 percent growth year on year, according to Davood Khosh-shekan, who presides over the medical tourism department at the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.

The official said the number of international travelers receiving medical services had increased by seven percent compared to the same period a year earlier.

A total of 13,948 foreign nationals received medical services in Mashhad this spring while the number reached 13,074 in the same period last year, Khosh-shekan added.

8,708 Afghan nationals, 3,684 people from Iraq, 793 from Turkmenistan, and 226 travelers from Bahrain were admitted to Mashhad hospitals during the first three months of the current year, the official said.

He said that Mashhad received 24,300 foreign travelers who were either hospitalized or gained outpatient treatments during the Iranian year 1400.

As mentioned by Saeid Karimi, the deputy minister of health, Iran’s medical tourism revenues reached $1 billion during the past year 1401. “In the same year, the Islamic Republic hosted some 1.2 million medical tourists from 164 countries.”

Visiting Iran for medical purposes is widely considered a win-win opportunity both for the country and foreign patients due to affordable yet quality treatment services.

Credible surgeons and physicians, cutting-edge medical technologies, high-tech medicine and diverse specializations, super affordable procedures, and finally its hospitable people, are considered Iran’s trump card when it comes to medical tourism. Medical tourism is booming worldwide, as about 20 to 24 million people are traveling for medical treatments annually. Factors such as increased care needs over longer lifespans, rising healthcare costs, and constant pressures on some insurance industries are reasons behind why some opt to travel abroad.

AFM