TEHRAN –The Khorasan Razavi tourism directorate plans to facilitate health tourism development to attract more Iraqi travelers.

To attract more health tourists from Najaf to the northeastern province, necessary conditions will be put in place, the provincial tourism chief has said.

“With the cooperation of tourism organizations, we are prepared to facilitate the conditions needed to attract health tourists from Najaf,” Seyyed Javad Mousavi said on Sunday.

He made the remarks in a meeting with Najaf’s tourism chief Abd al-Karim Tahir in Mashhad.

A network of travel agencies and tourist companies will be established in Khorasan Razavi and Najaf provinces to assist pilgrims, Mousavi added.

The largest and best accommodation centers in the country can be found in Mashhad, where pilgrims and tourists have access to the cheapest services, he noted.

For his part, Tahir said that in addition to having good relations with the people of Mashhad, Najaf citizens are very interested in pilgrimage and health care services in Mashhad.

It is hoped that with cooperation between the tourism directorates of both provinces, the conditions for traveling to Mashhad will be facilitated, he added.

Mashhad, the provincial capital, is Iran’s holiest and second-largest city. Its raison d’être and main sight is the striking massive shrine complex of Imam Reza (AS), the eighth Shia Imam.

Dozens of five-star hotels and hostels are dotted across Mashhad. 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. The metropolis is also a good place to buy top handwoven rugs and carpets, and it’s a staging post for travel to Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and little-touristic Khorasan regions.

According to available data, Iran hosts an average of one million medical tourists each year. “About one million medical tourists, mainly from the neighboring countries, arrive in Iran annually,” Mohammadreza Tarjoman, who presides over the Health Ministry’s tourism office, said in April.

“The majority of inbound medical passengers come from the neighboring countries, including Iraq and Afghanistan,” the official said. Talking about hospitals and clinics, he said a selection of 200 Iranian medical centers have permission to accept foreign patients.

Experts believe medical tourism in Iran is a win-win opportunity both for the country and foreign patients, as they are offered affordable yet quality treatment services and the country gains considerable foreign currency. Amongst Iran’s trump cards are the presence of credible surgeons and physicians, cutting-edge medical technologies, high-tech medicine and diverse specializations, super affordable procedures, and finally its hospitable people.

Iran seeks to exceed its yearly medical travelers to around two million in [calendar year] 1404 (March 2025-March 2026).

ABU/AM