Tehran – 52,000 pilgrimage trips have been registered in Iran’s Khorasan Razavi province and Mashhad, Najaf, Iraq, last week.
According to the Mehr News Agency, Mashhad was the origin or destination of 25% of all travel recorded in Iran last week. Over 50% of the trips were made by train, 30% by bus and 20% by airplane.
This data shows that passengers can better plan their trips during high season using a variety of transportation options, including trains, buses and planes. The diversification of user selection suggests that fleet types and cost diversity play an important role in traveler decisions.
A comparative study of the number of tickets issued for overseas pilgrimage trips in the week leading up to Khordad Holidays compared to normal periods shows double trips to the Najaf and Mehran border. There have also been over 1,000 tickets registered for trips to St. Najaf and Melan border at the same time.
This growth coincides with patterns of pilgrimage trips in religious times. The presence of pilgrims at the pilgrimage site during the day of Arafah indicates the presence of pilgrimage.
Arafah Day is an Islamic holiday that falls on the ninth day of the Du al-Hijah of the Moon Islamic calendar. It is the second day of the Hajj pilgrimage, followed by the Eid al-Ada holiday. At dawn today, Muslim pilgrims head from Mina to a nearby hillside, to the plains known as the Arafat Mountain and the Arafat Plains in Saudi Arabia. It was from this site that the Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) gave one of his final sermons in the last years of his life. Some Muslims believe that some of the Quran poems that announced the completion of the Islamic religion were revealed on this day.
Research on visitor pilgrimage routes shows that the most pilgrimage trips have been made from Tehran, QOM and Isfahan provinces. These states had the largest share among pilgrims for domestic and international pilgrimage purposes.
Choosing a pilgrimage trip at Khordad Holiday shows that religious opportunities, particularly the coincidence with the day of Arafah, plays an important role in increasing travel volume. Meanwhile, the increasing use of online ticketing platforms indicates that users are planning pilgrimage trips more than ever before.
With the approaching moon of Muharram and the arrival of Arbaeen, the role of these platforms in promoting future massive pilgrimage trips is expected to be more pronounced than in the past.
KD