The increasing expansion and development of commercial, residential and recreational spaces changed the face of Mashhad as the second largest metropolis in Iran over the past decade. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effects of the development of tourist sites on the satisfaction of religious tourists. The research population is religious tourists who have traveled to Mashhad in Nowruz 1395(from Sunday, March 20, 2016 to Friday, April 1, 2016 is considered as Iranian new year holiday). The results of multivariate regression analysis showed that there is a significant positive relationship between the development of tourist sites and religious tourist’s satisfaction. Among the independent and effective variables in the model, the variable of development of recreation centers has the most effect on the satisfaction of religious tourists as a dependent variable and subsequently, the variables of the development of residential centers and the development of shopping centers are effective on the satisfaction of religious tourists. Meanwhile, the results of Pearson correlation test showed that there is no relation between travel motivation and demographic characteristics of tourists with the satisfaction of religious tourists.

Religious tourism is a form of tourism receiving more attention nowadays, whose development is on the agenda. This research is conducted with the aim of designing a theoretical model of the development of religious tourism in Iran, through a qualitative grounded theory. To collect data, profound and unstructured interviews were conducted with 18 experts familiar with the subject. These interviews were analyzed through open, pivotal and selective coding. Some components were extracted from these basic concepts. These components were then classified under the heading of causal factors, pivotal phenomena, grounding conditions, interventional factors, strategies and outcomes of religious tourism development. The causative factors affecting the development of the country's religious tourism were identified in the form of "management of attractions and events", "management of advertisement" and "development of the infrastructure and services fulfilling the needs of religious tourists", and interventional factors including "rules and regulations" and "planning of Religious tourism grand policies" were identified. Grounding conditions included indicators of "cultural conditions" and "economic conditions", and strategies include "marketing", "improving the environmental conditions, "human resource and training", " public-private interaction for the development of religious tourism", "systemic outlook ", and" attraction of investors". The identified consequences included "increasing the remaining of religious tourists", "reinforcing the basic motivations of religious tourists", "increasing the number of religious tourists," and "increasing the revenue from religious tourist’s visit of the country."

According to the Islamic culture and civilization, tourism is deeply linked to Islamic thought and belief. It is one of the most profitable industries in the international fields and an important way for producing income and getting out of economic challenges of the local, national, regional, and international situations. Because the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS) is placed in Mashhad, it has a substantial capacity to attract religious tourists; yet, in recent decades, the number of pilgrims and tourists has increased, but their average stay in the city has decreased. Accordingly, the main purpose of this study is to identify the factors affecting the attraction and retention of religious tourists in Mashhad metropolis. In order to achieve this goal, the qualitative research method and grounded theory of Glaser’s approach have been employed. In this regard, the opinion of experts on the effective factors on attracting and retaining religious tourists in Mashhad metropolis were collected by semi-structured interviews. Through grounded method, they were categorized into open, selective and theoretical codes inferred from the identified concepts. The results of twelve interviews and reviewing and interpreting the data, led the researchers to 37 initial identifiers in the form of twelve sub-categories in five main categories including the characteristics of the destinations of the tourists and host community, tourist destination management, the characteristics and needs of pilgrims or religious tourists and the features of their travelling. Finally, the model of factors affecting the attraction and retention of religious tourists in Mashhad metropolis was presented, and the relations among categories were explained.

The study aims to evaluate the effective factors on creating a social bond in religious tourists using the services of recreational-sports complexes in Mashhad. The research method was quantitative with a structural equation model approach. The statistical population of the study was religious tourists who used the services of recreational-sports complexes in Mashhad. A total of 388 tourists were selected as the sample by convenience sampling. The measurement tool was a modified Adamczyk 25-item questionnaire based on expert opinions, which has four subscales (intimacy, security, passion, and commitment). The face and content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts while the construct validity was confirmed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Reliability was also obtained by more than 0.7 using Cronbach's alpha. To analyze the data, descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used. Finally, the results revealed that the components of secure and intimate bonding are the most essential elements of creating a social bond in religious tourists using the services of recreational-sports complexes in Mashhad, respectively. Consequently, this study emphasizes strengthening indicators such as infrastructure development, equipment, and facilities to reduce risks, using new marketing methods, protecting the tourist information, attention to the opinions, interests, and values of religious tourists, creating an intimate and social atmosphere, creating a secure and reassurance environment, etc. to create a social bond in religious tourists using the services of recreational-sports complexes.

Although the research on religious tourism experiences has increased in recent years, and given that most of the studies have been focused on the spiritual aspect of these experiences, there still needs to be more knowledge about the multiple attributes of religious tourists’ experiences. Therefore, the current study aims to provide an “integrated and multifaceted conceptual framework of religious tourists’ experiences” using a systematic literature review and deductive thematic analysis. The search was conducted on June 12, 2023. The PRISMA procedure identified fifty-three relevant articles ranging from 2006 to 2022. Based on the findings, the multifaceted religious tourists’ experiences can include cognitive, emotional, physical, relational, recovery, spiritual, transformative, and behavioral facets. The findings can extend the literature and benefit managers, planners, and destination marketing organizations in designing religious tourism experiences to enhance visitors’ satisfaction and destination competitiveness.

Religious tourism is one of the oldest and most important types of tourism that has a realistic share of dedicated tourism activities. Religious tourism, in addition to economic and financial aspects, also has a social connection with other Islamic societies and provides interaction between nations and cultures that have common points. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the memorable experience of religious tourism and analyze its consequences, including the revisit intention and intention to recommend to others. The present study is an applied survey in terms of purpose and descriptive method in which the statistical population is religious tourists in the holy city of Mashhad and the 384 people were selected using simple random method. Data collection tool is a localized questionnaire, and its validity is through expert approval and in part with confirmatory factor analysis, convergent and divergent validity as well as its reliability through Cronbach's alpha and composite case reliability Assessed. In order to analyze the collected data, structural equation modeling was performed using SMART-PLS software. The results of this study showed that the engagement of religious tourists in Mashhad has a significant effect on cultural interaction and their memorable experiences. Also, memorable experiences of religious tourists in Mashhad have a significant effect on the destination revisit intention and recommend the destination to others. Finally, the engagement of religious tourists in Mashhad through cultural interaction affects their memorable experiences.

Religious beliefs of the distant past, had a major role in the establishment and development of human settlements. In order to earn religious tourism and the preservation of cultural heritage is taken into consideration. This paper attempts to influence of presence of religious tourists on the development of rural settlements must be examined from the perspective of the villagers. Research methods in this study, the target application and the method is analytical. The research community, including the f households of the Novdeh-e-Enghelab Village, shoots the census of 2011, with 1050 households and 3469 people are, Cochran formula required sample size was 165 households. Presence of religious tourists in rural areas in the field of social and cultural were most affected by the development of rural settlement has left out 3.4. In addition, Friedman test statistic shows that this index is 3.24 for the villager's highest priority. Research limitation: One of the main challenges in this study is to access the information of religious tourists. Practical implications: Based on the findings, suggestions and advertising tourist attractions include Shrine of Ibrahim (AS), the provision of space for parking and accommodations, in compliance with the Privacy religious monument wall of green space, coordination of services in the field of tourism organizations, etc. have been proposed. Original/value: This study is important in the sense that possible to detect traces of religious tourism, rural development fields provided.

Most existing research on pilgrims and religious tourists has focused on their motivation, with limited attention to their actual experiences. This knowledge gap is particularly apparent in the Islamic context, where understanding the experiences of pilgrims and religious tourists is crucial for predicting their future behaviors. This paper aims to identify the key dimensions of pilgrims' and religious tourists' experiences during the Arba'een pilgrimage. To achieve this objective, a thorough review of the relevant literature was conducted, and appropriate questions were developed and refined through consultation with experts in the field. The target population for this study consisted of Iranian pilgrims who participated in the Arba'een pilgrimage. The researchers utilized a convenience sampling method to collect 229 completed questionnaires, which were then analyzed using exploratory factor analysis in SPSS software. Through this analysis, the researchers identified six key dimensions that contributed to the experience of Arba'een pilgrims: spiritual and emotional, cognitive, interactive, pleasant, physical-bodily, and learning. This research suggests that while the primary motivation for pilgrims is a spiritual experience, other types of experiences can also enhance their overall pilgrimage experience. These findings have practical implications for destination managers, as they can use them to design various experiences that cater to the needs and preferences of different types of pilgrims.

Tourism is now considered as one of the most important income industries of the world. Tourism as one of the main and basic approaches can be used in solving problems resulted from unemployment problems and downturn in different countries and the twenty-year vision of Iran specially consider tourism and attracting tourists. The huge volume of the tourists in the world are religious tourists and most of these religious tourists choose Mehran international border for entry and exit from Iran for doing pilgrimage and their religious affairs due to being safe and vicinity to The Holy of Holies in Iraq. This research aims at designing and explaining religious tourism model in Mehran International Border. Having determining the sample size qualitatively via snowball method, 14 experts of religious tourism including academics and trustees of religious tourism were recognized and they were interviewed directly and the research findings showed that religious tourism pattern in Mehran International Border has six main components including casual conditions (religious and tribal communities, provincial infrastructures, common border of Iraq and vicinity to The Holy of Holies, advertisements) categories (tourism and its subcategories, religious places in Iran and Iraq, security) grounds (commercial free zone in Mehran welfare and health services, economic part of religious tourism), interferer factors (political factors, conveying affairs to non-governmental sector, weather changes), strategies (cooperating with educational centers and universities, increasing governmental investing, using capacities of religious days) consequences & results (income and creating jobs, people’s persistence in border and non-immigration, cultural development of province, destruction of environmental, road and jungles of province) which could be introduced as a proper pattern for religious tourism in Mehran International Border according to the opinion of experts.

Religious tourism is one of the most popular types of tourismand multifunction cities are the most important places for attraction of these tourists. Different religions have their own patterns for pilgrimage trips In all, the aim is to achieve spiritual peace Tourism management of religious- pilgrimages and native models has basically different in that destination cities which they are following especially geographically and socially characteristics.This study reviews tourism management of two pilgrimages city Rome in Italy (Vatican) and Mashhad in Iran. Method of this research is comparative analysis and has been developed based on the management of tourist destinations model. Information was collected from documents and electronic resources.The results showed differences in the management structure and composition of tourism in the sample cities. Finally, recommendations offered to improve the Tourism Management in Mashhad, According to Rome's success and excellence in attracting and organizing religious and non-religious tourists.