Health Tourism
Designing seamless experiences for pilgrims seeking medical care
Project Meta
Location
Religious tourism city
Year
2010s
Role
Service Designer
Sector
Healthcare & Tourism
Context & Challenge
In the 2010s, Mashhad emerged as a rising destination for health tourism, welcoming over 20 million domestic pilgrims and around 2 million international visitors annually. Nearly 10% of international visitors sought medical or wellness services, creating a unique intersection between pilgrimage and healthcare. The challenge was to design an integrated service experience that seamlessly combined accommodation, pilgrimage activities, and medical treatment, creating value for visitors while positioning Mashhad as a regional hub for health tourism.
20M+
Domestic Pilgrims Annually
2M
International Visitors
10%
Seeking Medical Services
Design Approach
​As a service designer, I reimagined combined accommodation, pilgrimage, and treatment packages to create a seamless, simple, and valuable experience. The approach focused on:
Service Integration
​Mapping the full journey from arrival to departure, identifying friction points between spiritual, medical, and hospitality touchpoints.
User-Centered Design
​Placing visitor experience at the heart of service delivery, ensuring cultural sensitivity and medical quality.
Stakeholder Alignment
​Coordinating between hotels, hospitals, religious sites, and transport providers to create cohesive packages.
Package Innovation
Designing flexible service bundles that combined spiritual, medical, and hospitality needs in one streamlined offering.
Impact & Outcomes
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Created seamless service packages combining pilgrimage, accommodation, and medical care
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Positioned Mashhad as a regional health tourism destination
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Reduced complexity for international visitors navigating healthcare and hospitality systems
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Established user experience as the foundation for service delivery in health tourism