Coordinated tourism development needed in Khorasan Razavi
Khorasan Razavi Province, home to the holy city of Mashhad and the shrine of Imam Reza (PBUH), one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in the Muslim world, receives millions of pilgrims annually. Alongside pilgrimage tourism centered in Mashhad, provincial officials are increasingly seeking to promote lesser-known destinations across Khorasan Razavi in order to expand tourism opportunities and distribute travel more evenly throughout the province.
The deputy head of tourism at Khorasan Razavi’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization has said that domestic travel trends within the province are increasingly shifting toward lesser-known destinations, while emphasizing the urgent need for stronger tourism promotion, coordinated planning, and improved content production.
Speaking to ISNA, Mohammad Rokni said the largest share of intra-provincial travel in Khorasan Razavi is currently directed toward the cities of Dargaz, Quchan, Gonabad, Torbat-e Jam, and Khaf. He noted, however, that some regions, including the historic Torshiz area, still lack organized tours and structured travel programs.
Rokni stressed the importance of increasing advocacy efforts and strengthening cooperation among tourism stakeholders in order to achieve broader development goals. He added that producing high-quality content and providing comprehensive introductions to tourist attractions are essential, particularly given the accommodation capacity and handicraft potential across the province’s cities and counties.
He noted that demands and initiatives from those active in the tourism sector in some cities remain limited and insufficient.
Emphasizing the need for practical action rather than passive discussion, Rokni said cultural figures and tourism professionals in different sectors should actively pursue their demands in order to create meaningful and lasting change. “If we simply sit and do nothing, nothing will happen,” he said.
Rokni also underlined the importance of adopting an integrated and province-wide approach to tourism development.
“If we want to create a strong tourism flow in Khorasan Razavi Province, we cannot focus only on our own city, because tourism is a chain that must move forward in coordination,” he said.
He suggested that tourists visiting one destination should also be introduced to nearby regions and attractions, adding that such interactions and cooperation between cities could help create a more cohesive and sustainable tourism network throughout the province.
Referring to the accommodation infrastructure and handicraft capacities that already exist in many counties, Rokni said the current priority should be making better use of existing opportunities and unlocking untapped potential rather than waiting for entirely new resources.
“We need to work much more seriously on content production,” he said.
Rokni stated that attracting tourists requires effective and professional promotional content, adding that some cities currently lack even basic monolingual or bilingual materials that could help travel agencies and tour operators introduce those destinations to visitors.
He stressed the need for high-quality content related to pilgrimage tourism, nature tourism, cultural tourism, handicrafts, and other tourism sectors, expressing hope that stronger cooperation and collective efforts would lead to greater tourism growth across the province.
Rokni also pointed to the lack of suitable digital content for online promotion and regional marketing, saying many destinations in the province still do not have adequate materials to present themselves effectively on social media platforms.
“We do not have content that we can properly present in virtual spaces,” he said.
He concluded by emphasizing the importance of continued content production, stronger advocacy efforts, investment attraction, and securing financial support and facilities for the tourism sector. Rokni expressed hope that, through collective determination and coordinated action, tourism across Khorasan Razavi Province would experience broader growth and long-term prosperity.