Trigeneration, referred to as Combined Heating, Cooling and Power (CHCP), is an efficient energy conversion technology which offers several merits, including fuel consumption saving, CO2 emission abatement and reduced expenses. In this article, the viability of trigeneration system in Mashad city, the main tourist destination in Iran, has been studied. For this aim, two scenarios have been proposed to meet thermal energy demand which is about 80 MWth at peak time. In the first scenario, the plan is developed on the basis of heat recovery opportunity from hot exhaust gases of two gas turbines installed near Mashad town center, and in the second scenario, an onside CHCP plant with optimum capacity is considered. Then, some performance criteria are investigated to assess the effectiveness of projected scenarios. Finally, both options are analyzed from technical and financial point of view. Finally, although CO2 abatement is approximately 311,500 ton per year for the first scenario, and four times lower for the second one, the latter presents better economic features (internal rate of return: 14.27% versus 12.93%). Accordingly, the onside CHCP proposal is recommended to be installed. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.