On the sidelines of opening ceremony of a garden festival in Alborz Province, Ali Asghar Mounesan said that today, tourism has become the third source of income in world economy and Iran should pay special attention to it.
IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK
He added that tourism is an industry which suffers the least impact of sanctions and it can help Iran’s economy a great deal, adding that this sector has impacts both on economy and social vitality.
Mounesan reiterated that the government should pay more attention to tourism industry, adding that fortunately the President has good approach to the issue.
Figures disclosed by Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handcrafts and Tourism Organization show that more than 7.8 million foreigners traveled to Iran during the last Iranian year (ended on March 20), indicating a year-on-year jump of 52%% or 2.1 million visitors.
Mounesan said the inbound tourists brought some $11.8 billion of revenue to the country last year.
The big jump comes in spite of the fact that the reimposition of U.S. sanctions poses a serious threat to the emerging sector, the ICHHTO chief said.
“Despite all the externals restrictions, mostly from the U.S., we have managed to attract more foreign travelers to the country,” Mounesan added.
According to Mounesan, the lower costs of Iran travel packages were a key factor in making the country more attractive to foreigners.
He also said that during recent floods, historical sites and monuments did not hit with major damages and so far 700b rials have been earmarked for repairing the damaged sites.
- source : IRAN NEWS
