Khorasan Razavi Province saw the highest amount of investment in tourism and the pilgrimage industry in the country in the last Iranian year (ended March 20), a top official at Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism said.
According to Hassan Zamani, deputy for investment at the provincial ICHHTO office, out of 1,657 tourism projects at a value of 323 trillion rials ($7.6 billion), 340 at a value of 76.5 trillion rials ($1.8 billion) were carried out in Khorasan Razavi.
The second spot is held with a significant distance by Mazandaran Province with 174 projects implemented, CHTN reported.
"Besides, out of the pledged 6,200 employment opportunities, the provincial office managed to create 5,557 jobs in tourism, hotel management, handicrafts and cultural heritage last year," he said.
Some 75 other infrastructural projects, including public conveniences, tourist information centers and access roads, are underway for which 152 billion rials have been earmarked from provincial funds plus 26 billion rials from national sources.
"Over the past year, more than 150 permits were issued for tourism schemes, particularly lodging facilities, and 1.7 trillion rials ($40 million) in loans were envisioned to be offered to 49 projects by banks," the official said, calling for increased cooperation on the part of banks to provide the facilities.
