TEHRAN – Khorasan Razavi province estimates to register more than 14 million overnight stays during the summer, the deputy provincial tourism chief has said. 

“Throughout the summer, some 14.3 million travelers are expected to stay overnight in the official accommodation centers across the province,” Yousef Bidkhori said on Wednesday. 

In the summer before the coronavirus outbreak, more than 12.7 million overnight stays were recorded in accommodation units of the province, the official added. 

Iranians also made over seven million overnight stays across the northeastern province in the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-July 21), he noted. 

The provincial capital of Mashhad is Iran’s holiest and second-largest city which embraces the shrine complex of the eighth Shia Imam.

Before the coronavirus puts almost everything on lockdown, 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 holy shrine.

According to official statistics, some 37 million Iranian pilgrims and travelers visited the shrine city of Mashhad during the first ten months of the past Iranian calendar year 1398 (March 21, 2019- March 10, 2020). Of whom some eight million came by road, six million by rail, 3.8 million by air, and 18 million by private cars.

ABU/AFM