Shiraz, the historical capital of Fars Province, will host an international conference on religious tourism in the upcoming Iranian year (starts March 20), Mehr News Agency reported. The event is being organized by the municipality in collaboration with the Shiraz City Council. The exact date of the meeting was not available. “Authorities must not bother themselves with financial matters when it comes to a conference on such a scale, because tourism is and must be a priority for Shiraz, and indeed, the province,” Mahmoud Reza Taleban, vice chairman of the city council, told a meeting attended by authorities involved in launching direct flights between Shiraz and the holy city of Najaf in Iraq. Shiraz is home to Shah Cheragh Mausoleum, which includes a 13th-century mosque and a shrine to two Islamic religious figures: Ahmed ibn Musa and Muhammad ibn Musa, brothers of Imam Reza (PBUH), the eighth imam of Shias, whose shrine in Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi Province, is visited by millions of domestic and foreign tourists every year.
