What makes religious tourists stay longer: some evidence of Mashhad

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effective factors in the attraction and length of stay of Mashhad’s religious tourism, as one of the largest religious tourism destinations in the world.Design/methodology/approach: This research was done based on qualitative and grounded theory approaches. The data were collected through in-depth and open interviews with experts who were selected purposefully. For data analysis, constant comparative method with open, axial and selective coding was used.Findings: The results have shown there are ۲۷۷ concepts within tourist attraction and extending length of stay including ۸ contextual, ۱۷ causals, ۸ intervening, ۸ Strategies, and ۸ consequential categorizations. This theory explains the influencing parameters of the main concept; the attraction and extension of tourists’ length of stay in the city of Mashhad. It conveys some solutions for desired outcomes like cultural development, increasing tourists and hosts benefits and sustainable growth of tourism industry in general alongside improving the national security, deepening the religious identity, improving pilgrims’ welfare and the quality of their experiences with better coordination among management units.Originality/value: The innovative side of this research suggests that unlike many other destinations which are single dimensional, Mashhad has its own unique multi-dimensional characteristics that should be considered carefully to optimize its full potential and development.

Keywords:

Tourist Attraction , length of stay , Religious tourism destinations , Grounded theory.