TEHRAN – Religious tourism accounted for 56 percent of the two million foreign tourists who visited Iran during the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year, Deputy Tourism Minister Anoushirvan Mohseni-Bandpey has said.

“During the first five months of 1405 (which stared on March 21, 2026), we succeeded in attracting two million tourists to the country, 56 percent of whom had traveled for religious tourism,” Mohseni-Bandpey told ISNA on Tuesday. 

He said religious and pilgrimage tourism represented a valuable tourism resource for Iran and that the country’s Seventh National Development Plan had set out requirements for expanding the sector.

“Given the current situation in the country, this capacity can create conditions for the greater presence of foreign tourists,” he said.

The official said the figures demonstrated strong demand for religious travel from neighboring countries and stressed the need to improve tourism infrastructure, expand accommodation facilities and facilitate the movement of pilgrims.

He said the national pilgrimage task force held its first meeting in April 2025 in Mashhad and its second meeting is currently underway in Qom, with the aim of identifying and removing obstacles to the development of pilgrimage and religious tourism in Iran.

The deputy minister identified air transport as one of the main obstacles to the expansion of international tourism, saying limited direct flights made travel difficult for visitors from some countries.

“For example, a Shia Muslim from Indonesia or Pakistan who wants to visit the shrine of Hazrat Masoumeh (SA) has to enter the country through a third country, and this is an obstacle,” he said.

Iran is home to several major pilgrimage destinations that attract domestic and international visitors. Mashhad, in northeastern Iran, is the country’s principal pilgrimage center and is home to the shrine of Imam Reza (AS), the eighth Imam of Shia Muslims. The shrine complex is also one of Iran’s most significant religious and architectural landmarks.

Qom, south of Tehran, is another major center of Shia pilgrimage and religious scholarship. The city is home to the shrine of Hazrat Masoumeh (SA) and attracts pilgrims and religious visitors from Iran and other countries, particularly from communities in the Middle East and South and Southeast Asia.

Other religious destinations include Shiraz, where the shrine of Shah Cheragh is located, as well as a number of historic mosques, shrines and sacred sites across the country. Iran also has important pilgrimage and religious heritage sites associated with different faith communities, including Armenian Christian monasteries and Jewish historical and religious sites.

AM