Mr. Jamshid Hamzehzadeh said that the COVID-19 pandemic has hurt the tourism sector and especially hotel business in the country, adding that with the start of the summer and summer travels, it seems the condition gets better for the hoteliers. He added that hotels in the northern and western parts of the country are now active and they have better condition nowadays in terms of occupancy rate comparing to hotels in other parts of the country, admitting that the number of domestic travels is increasing because there is few foreign tourists.

He reiterated that as long as the COVID-19 is not contained, the country will face decline or sometimes rise in the number of occupancy rate of the hotels.

Hamzehzadeh stated that if the occupancy rate was 100 percent months ago, it is currently around 15 percent and this rate is around 30 percent in the northern provinces and West and East Azarbaijan provinces.

He added that the condition of hotels in Mashhad is getting better but some of the hotels have decided voluntarily to shut down their businesses until the condition for their businesses improve.

He then pointed to the interest of Iranian investors for investment in construction of hotel, adding that these investors look to the future and they hope with the containment of COVID-19 , the condition would get better and for this reason the number of domestic investors in this business is on the rise.

Hamzehzadeh went on to say that foreign hoteliers in Iran mostly tend to sell their brands and are reluctant for investment, and Iranian hoteliers do not welcome this idea because they have to pay a whopping cost for using the brand. He reiterated that by the way foreign tourists in Iran do not pay attention to the brands of hotels and on the other hand, buying the foreign brands faces several problems in the country like transfer of money.

On the amount of damages inflicted on the hotels in the country due to the pandemic, he said that it is estimated hotel industry in the country has suffered some 18,200b tomans of loss.

He went on to say that from September 23, the rate of room of hotels will increase and this rise in the rate will be between 10 to 25 percent and each hotel based on the demand and supply will announce its rate and some hotels even may not hike the price.

He also criticized the government and said the tourism industry is in its worst condition and the government has not fulfilled its promises regarding this industry.

He expressed hope that president-elect Hojjatoleslam Seyed Ebrahim Raisi would pick hise tourism minister from the related body of this industry.

The post Foreign Hoteliers Reluctant to Invest in Iran appeared first on Iran News Daily.

According To Iran News, International travel used to be a popular and prestigious holiday activity for Iranians, but the value of Iranian Rial has decreased rapidly in the past few years and judging by our sales statistics at trip.ir, many Iranians can’t afford airplane ticket and hotel reservation for international travels anymore. Apart from the heavy expenses and the problematic currency exchange rate, the government has been increasing the departure tax lately. These are the reasons why the rate of international travel for Iranians has decreased by 6.5% in the first 3 months of 1398, compared to the previous year.

Since international travel is not cost-beneficial for many Iranians anymore and is even frowned upon and criticized as a luxurious benefit that no normal family would be able to afford, the demand for domestic travel has increased. Nowadays, many Iran tourist attractions that used to be almost empty, are rife with new tourists.

The Challenges Iranians have for International Travels 

As was mentioned, international travel has become less popular among Iranians. Let’s review the causes, this time with more detail:

• High Price of Airplane Tickets: The overly expensive airplane tickets are perhaps the biggest obstacle for traveling abroad. The price of airline tickets has tripled or even quadrupled in a very short period, mostly due to the heavy sanctions. The sections have had a deep effect on all aspects of the economy, but their effect on the price of airplane tickets for international flights has been especially severed. because unlike domestic flights, their price is determined by international currency, not Rial. Airline companies have tried to minimize their loss by decreasing the number of flights and increasing the price of tickets, resulting in unaffordable prices, especially when the demand is high, like during the holidays.
• High Price of Hotel Reservation: Even if Iranians manage to find an affordable ticket to their desired destination, reserving a hotel room might cause problems since they have to be paid for with Euro or Dollar. When it comes to international travel, the distinction between “cheap hotels” and “expensive hotels” has become less clear for Iranians. Of course, some travel agencies have tried to make hotel rooms more affordable for customers by offering special price packages and special tours. but nowadays, most of people go abroad for work-related reasons – namely businessmen and representatives of big businesses – and they won’t need these kinds of aids. For others, considering how high the prices are, these financial aids might still not make the prices affordable.
• High Departure Tax: With the government’s new enactment in 1397, the departure tax increased considerably. According to this law, passengers have to pay 2,20,000 Rials as a departure tax. The passengers who exit Iran the second or third time, have to pay 3,30,000 and 4,400,000 Rials respectively. This departure tax has harmed the Iranians’ tendency towards international travel.

Challenges of Domestic Travel among Iranians 

While the popularity of domestic travel is on the rise, this form of travel also has its problems. Some of them are unique to domestic travel, while some of them overlap with the challenges of international travel. To name a few:

• High Price of Airplane Tickets: While the price of airplane tickets for domestic travel is lower than international travel, it is still expensive for many Iranians. For example, according to the prices listed on the “Trip. IR”, a one week trip to Kish in winter would cost between 1.5 to 2 million Tomans for two people, and that’s the price of plane tickets alone. Of course, that might not seem a lot, but we need to consider the fact that in times of economic hardship, luxuries such as traveling are among the first casualties. So even if we were to ignore international travel, the high price of airplane tickets is an issue that needs to be fixed.
• General Inflation: In the past few years, Iran has faced a serious inflation problem and there was a sudden price spike for all sorts of the commodity. This is why even when Iranians plan to travel within the country, they try to minimize their costs by not buying souvenirs, eating at cheaper restaurants and even camping outdoors, instead of renting hotel rooms.
• Obscurity of Iranian Tourist Destinations: Due to its rich history and four-season climate, Iran has the potential to be one of the most attractive tourist attractions in the world. There are architectural wonders in Iran comparable to the world-famous Gothic cathedrals of Europe, but there is not enough effort to present a tourist-friendly image of the country to the world and this is why these attractions don’t get the attention they deserve, even among Iranians themselves.

How “Trip. IR” Can Help the Growth of Domestic Tourism

Even though international and domestic travel both have their disadvantages, in the current circumstances, domestic traveling seems more cost-beneficial. However, some companies are trying to smooth out the process of traveling for Iranians in these difficult times and reduce the negative effects of the challenges mentioned above. “Trip” is one of such companies.

“Trip.ir” is an online travel agency that plans to make traveling as easy and stress-free as possible for Iranians. The website provides a list of options for buying airplane tickets and hotel reservations and the customer can choose the most desired option based on the prices. The trip also offers special tours with reasonable discounts and provides travel insurance, which covers the medical expenses of the customer’s voyage. Also, in case the customers lose their passport or any other important document, the travel insurance will cover their loss.

Apart from the challenges mentioned, one of the reasons for people’s reluctance to travel is the lack of information and unfamiliarity with the sources. Many people wrongly think that the process of buying an airplane ticket and reserving a hotel is complicated and time-consuming, so they don’t bother at all, even though they might be interested in the idea of traveling.

Thanks to websites like “Trip.ir”, all the information a customer might need to put their mind at ease is laid out before them, even down to the preferred hour of departure. Thanks to these online features and the transparency they provide, customers can reduce their engagement with the more rudimentary aspects of traveling to a minimum.

In the future, if the economic situation improves and the government manages to present a more appealing image of Iranian tourist destinations and cultural sites, we are going to witness a rise in Iranian tourism industry and websites like “Trip.ir” are more than eager to facilitate this process.

For more information you can check out the Trip.ir website as well:

www.trip.ir

The post The Challenges of International Travel and Domestic Travel among Iranians  appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Through a simple Google search rows of different results will pop up, however, the problem arises out of international credit cards and online payment services like PayPal that don’t work with Iran.

In a recent article, Iranian Students’ News Agency has offered ways to easily secure your accommodation by prior arrangement. ISNA’s recommendations are given in what follows:

Book a hotel in Iran through websites

During your slightly successful Google research on how to book a hotel in Iran, you might come across some Iranian websites providing accommodation and lodging services. What they actually do is to reserve a room for you anywhere in Iran, instead of booking one like every other website, and take care of everything else until you arrive. As for the payment, everything is just straightforward. You can pay for the reservation after your check-in and see that if the reserved room is up to your standards or not. Pretty easy, right? For even more convenience, hotels accept currencies like Dollar or Euro, so don’t change all your money when you enter Iran and keep some of it in your pocket. (Through travel websites like 1stQuest you can pay online with your credit card) But why do hotels don’t mind getting paid in other currencies?

Well, right now USD and EUR dominate the domestic currency market in Iran with a soaring steep, automatically converting the current market into a total mess. So, as you can see, taking Rials (Iran’s official currency) comes at high risk for business owners dealing with tourists and foreigners.

The thing to remember is that, this kind of reservation can be canceled at any time by any side. It’s a verbal agreement and sometimes they can go terribly wrong. For this reason, we recommend checking with the website one last time before you get on a plane to Iran. Having an Iranian friend or reading review tourism websites like TripAdvisor can help you too. There is another way to book your Iran hotels online. Read more about it in the next section.

Book a hotel in Iran through travel agencies

If you find it hard to do everything on your own, then you should dump it all on Iranian tourism agencies. The way they help you book Iran hotels which is pretty simple and straightforward. For example, you go onto the website like 1stquest.com, put the city you want (for example if you want to search for Abbasi hotel type Isfahan in the city section) to travel to and the duration of your stay in the assigned search boxed and with no sweat you’re presented with a long list of hotels and hostels. 1stQuest sets different filters and price ranges for different types of travel styles.

This way you don’t need to worry about your reservation getting canceled by the website, you can get a clear image of a hotel, and read users comments and reviews.

Book a hotel in Iran through calls or emails

Talk about nostalgia, right? It’s probably a decade from the last time you sent an email to a hotel for a room. As fun as it sounds, sending an email takes a lot of time which in today’s world nobody wants to spare, especially if the receiver is a hotel in Iran. Let’s just put it this way, Iranian hotels don’t do well with emails. Based on the reviews given by TripAdvisor users, it takes hotels at least two days to respond to an email, luxury amount of time a tourist on the clock can’t spare. We suggest that for a quick answer, you pick up the phone and just call the hotel.

Usually, accommodation centers in Iran work around the clock and even in the night hours, they have somebody ready to answer calls.

However, to be on the safe side and successfully book a hotel in Iran via phone, try calling during morning or evening hours which are the busiest time of day. FYI, Iran’s time zone is +3:30 GMT.

Booking counter at Iran’s international airports

Most of the gigantic international airports in Iran have booking counters straight outside the gates ready to help you book a hotel in Iran. It is really a relief seeing one these boards at the airport for you no longer need to worry about a lodging spot. This is a viable option for tourists who didn’t have time to plan their trip to Iran and just want to get it over with. Some of the big names have permanent counters at airports like Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport and are ready to book you a room in a matter of minutes but keep in mind that these disks are closed after hours and also, don’t expect to find a specific counter for hostels or guesthouses in Iran.

Hospitality services like Couchsurfing

This is not a solution of how to book a hotel in Iran per se but it can surely come in handy for tourists with tight schedules. Although applications like Airbnb doesn’t recognize Iran as a country suitable for its services and thus having too few Iranian users but Couchsurfing is growing by the day in Iran. Couchsurfing is immensely popular and widely used in Iran to find free accommodations for incoming tourists. If you browse Couchsurfing for information about Iran, it might shock you finding so many Iranian users active on the app. Iranians registered in this app can help you find and book a hotel in Iran and often they will stay in touch until you have a roof over your head. With Couchsurfing and its exceptional Iranian users, finding a hotel in Iran is easy peasy. However, it’s understandable if some tourists put less faith in free social hospitality applications like this one.

Ask taxi drivers!

Iranian people are genuinely nice and welcoming people, even the taxi drivers. It doesn’t matter if you arrive in night or day, at a land border or at an airport, these taxi drivers will always have an answer for your accommodation problem and do absolutely everything in their power so you find and book a hotel. Most of the times, they know a nearby hotel or somebody who knows somebody else who is a hotel owner and might even give you a discount on the room. Keep in mind that this is your last option when all other hope is lost. However, many tourists traveling independently and without any previous knowledge of the country, put their faith in the taxi drivers to help them book a hotel in Iran. This may sound like a hard way but even asking Iranian taxi drivers for hotel recommendation is a pleasant experience you will never forget.

The post Hacking your way to book a hotel room in Iran appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Cozy chambers that are meticulously laid out around a vast courtyard may easily evoke spirits of the past. It’s not hard to fancy the hustle and bustle of merchants bargaining on prices, recounting their arduous journeys to one another while their camels chewing hay! You can also conceive the idea of local architectural style and material in its heyday.

Passing major roads in the country, one may see crumbling caravanserais many of which abandoned for ages. In the Information Age, such guest houses have largely lost their actual usage.

However, a couple of years ago, Iran tourism body introduced a scheme to keep them alive and profitable; tens of caravanserais are ceded to the private investors for better maintenance. Now, some are exclusively renovated, repurposed into boutique hotels and tourist lodgings.

Caravansary is a compound word combining “caravan” with “sara”. The first stand for a group of travelers and sara means the building.

They often had massive portals supported by elevated load-bearing walls. Guest rooms were constructed round the courtyard and stables behind them with doors in the corners of the yard.

Iran’s earliest caravanserais were built during Achaemenid era (550 -330 BC). Centuries later, when Shah Abbas I assumed power form 1588 – to 1629, he ordered construction of network caravanserais across the country.

Here is comments of two international travelers to the restored Zein-o-din caravanserai in Yazd province, central Iran:

“A great way to experience Iran,” Paula G. from London posted to TripAdvisor in April.

“There are nearly a thousand of these caravanserai dotted all over Iran, some in disastrous states of disrepair some like Zein-o-din restored to the glory days when camel trains spotted here on the return from the Orient laden down with silk and spices. Sleeping arrangements are basic but the food is hearty & tea never ending. One can wander in the desert before locking up time (but beware, the local wildlife is speedy) & then watch the sun descend below the mountains from the rooftop as the sky comes alive with stars. Alternatively should the night prove too chill the central courtyard may be the place for entertainment until the eyelids become too heavy,” she wrote.

Another visitor to the caravanserai says, “We came across Zein-o-din Caravansary on our roadtrip. It has been a haven for wear travelers including us for hundreds of years. We had chai (tea) and great exploration of the building, and the needed bathroom break. We even took a peek at the different rooms. The bathroom is very clean and well supplied. I will definitely consider staying there on my next trip to Iran.”

From another point of view, caravanserais acted like a bridge facilitating travel, commerce and cultural exchanges for centuries between East, Central Asia, Middle East and the West.

The post Caravanserais and time travel to forgotten ages appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The post Hotel Fire in Western Russia Kills 6 appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The mansion is located in the ancient city of Shushtar, southwest Iran.

“Being the first traditional residence in Shushtar, it has 10 rooms with a capacity to accommodate 39 people …. a considerable feature of the place is its vicinity to the UNESCO-inscribed Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System,” CHTN quoted Alireza Tabib Shushrari, its landlord, as saying on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, the Revitalization and Utilization Fund for Historical Places announced 269 historical monuments across the country are to be ceded to the private sector with the aim of repurposing them into eco-lodges or other profitable niches.

Iran is home to abundant historical mansions, caravanserais, bathhouses, madrasas, and other massive monuments, which can buttress its budding tourism and hospitality sectors if managed appropriately and refurbished properly.

PHOTO: An interior view of the newly opened Tabib Shushtari hotel

The post Tabib Shushtari mansion turned into boutique hotel appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The post Evacuation after Fire Breaks Out at Iconic Moscow Hotel appeared first on Iran News Daily.