Int’l Tourism Exhibition of Tabriz Ends With Hopes of Boosting Tourism
TEHRAN (Iran News) The event kicked off on Wednesday by Deputy Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Ms. Maryam Jalali in the presence of senior officials Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts of Azarbaijan Province.
Union of Tourism Associations of East Azarbaijan was the organizer of the 2nd International Tourism Exhibition of Tabriz with the aim of boosting tourism activities in this province. The exhibitions were held on an 11,000-square-meter area and 27 provinces had their pavilions in the event. Some 50 pavilions for tourism and some 225 pavilions in the handicrafts put on display their activities and achievements. There were some pavilion for historic and classic cars on the sidelines of the event. Turkey was the only foreign country participating in the event.
Speaking on the sidelines of the exhibition, Chairman of Union of Tourism Associations of East Azarbaijan Mr. Rashid Rajabpoor who is also chairman of Flamingo Parvaz Tour Operator said that holding tourism exhibition was aimed at boosting tourism activities in the province and urged the government to provide required facilities for boosting tourism industry.
He also blamed unskillful and unspecialized managements for the lack of boom in tourism industry of the country. He added that one of the major problems of the tourism industry in Iran is the unspecialized and unprofessionalism of the airliners and experience shows that those countries are successful in tourism which use expertise and professional approaches in their airlines and they do not let unprofessional people enter the job. He deplored that in recent years airliners have been in the hands of unprofessional people which have pushed the tourism to the abyss.
Rajabpoor said that East Azarbaijan has great potentials for attracting domestic and foreign tourists, adding that called for real support of the government from tourism activists practically and not in words by granting required facilities and it will help domestic and foreign tourists to flood into the province.
He also criticized bad roads for lack of boom in tourism of provinces and called for improving the roads’ condition and renovating road transportation fleet.
He also reiterated that some of the problems have nothing to do with the sanctions and the mismanagement should be blamed and lack of good management will lead to the decline in the number of tourists.
Rajabpoor also pointed to the important role of travel agencies in developing tourism industry and reiterated that this field also needs skilful and expert persons in attracting domestic and foreign tourists. He also blamed the considerable number of decision-makers for issuing licenses for these agencies and it creates more hurdles and troubles for tour operators and travel agencies and this should be resolved if the country wants its tourism industry to pick up.
