Religious Night Tourism During Ramadan in Mashhad, Iran: Lived Experiences of Pilgrims

Authors

• Neda Zarandian, university of TehranFollow
• Razieh Rabani, Allameh Tabataba’i UniversityFollow
• Daniel H. Olsen, Brigham Young UniversityFollow

Author ORCID Identifier

0000-0003-2417-7946

Abstract

Mashhad, located in northeastern Iran, is one of the most significant pilgrimage destinations in the Islamic world, attracting millions of visitors annually to the Imam Reza Shrine (The eighth Imam of Shia Muslims). During Ramadan, the city transforms into a vibrant spiritual and social space where nocturnal religious practices and social gatherings shape distinctive emotional and temporal experiences for both pilgrims and tourists. Understanding these lived nighttime experiences is essential for developing culturally sensitive and spiritually meaningful tourism approaches. Despite the growing attention to religious tourism, the temporal, emotional, and sensory dimensions of night tourism in pilgrimage contexts remain unexplored. This study fills this gap by investigating the lived night tourism experiences of visitors in Mashhad during Ramadan. Using a purposive sampling method, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 tourists, and the data were analysed through thematic analysis using MAXQDA20. Four main themes emerged: personal and psychological experiences, interpersonal relationships, cultural experiences, and environmental experiences. The findings contribute to the emerging discourse on religious night tourism by offering conceptual and practical insights for researchers and practitioners seeking to enhance spiritually oriented nighttime experiences at pilgrimage destinations.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Zarandian, Neda; Rabani, Razieh; and Olsen, Daniel H. (2026) "Religious Night Tourism During Ramadan in Mashhad, Iran: Lived Experiences of Pilgrims," International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage: Vol. 14: Iss. 3, Article 15.
Available at: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/ijrtp/vol14/iss3/15