Minister: Nearly 3mln Foreign Tourists Travel to Iran Each Year

Iranian Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Seyed Ezatullah Zarghami said that the COVID-hit tourism sector is witnessing promising signs of recovery, and added that more than 2.9 million tourists have visited the country in 11 months. "Iran has plans to revive the tourism sector, hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak and return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2024," Zarghami said in an interview with the Iranian state TV on Tuesday. The minister added that the number of foreign tourists is increasing rapidly. "According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO), the tourism industry will return to the normal situation before the COVID-19 Pandemic by the end of 2024 and the tourism industry in Iran will progress earlier than this date," the official noted.

"In the last 11 months, 35 new museums have been established across the country, and now the number of museums has crossed the 800 mark,” Zarghami continued. He also blamed Iranophobia as one of the main obstacles to the development and prosperity of tourism in Iran, which diverts tourists to neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf region. Tehran has in recent months signed documents with several countries to develop cooperation in all fields, specially trade, economy, as well as tourism. Iran, over the past decade, has become one of the major tourist attractions for Asian and European nationals. Recently, Iran agreed to offer free visas to the 2022 Qatar World Cup spectators.

"Iranian President [Seyed] Ebrahim Raisi's cabinet has agreed to grant World Cup 2022 spectators who wish to visit Iran a visa free of charge," Government Spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi said in mid-April. The FIFA World Cup 2022 is to be held in Qatar and Iran's cooperation with Qatar has been previously initiated in February 2021 when Kish Free Zone Organization put the issue high on the agenda. Iranian Southern islands enjoy huge potentials and facilities that can support Qatar in hosting the tournament, in terms of transport, infrastructures, logistics, accommodations, etc. Moreover, it can attract spectators willing to visit nearby touristic locations amid the intervals of their favorite matches. - Fars