As per a new rule to address travel agents’ challenges regarding access to foreign currency, Iranian outbound tour operators will be able to receive payment orders after approval of their packages by the Travel Agents’ Guild Association.
The new forex regulations that have restricted money exchange had caused trouble for tour operators which were excluded from the list of priorities for currency allocation.
Following widespread complaints, the Central Bank of Iran pledged in a verbal announcement that travel agents conducting foreign exchange transactions will have no problem in obtaining their required currency but will need to have a letter of approval from their authority.
Negotiations were held with the officials of the CBI and Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization and the procedures were finally worked out, Mehr News Agency reported.
According to Hormatollah Rafiei, head of the TAGA, the new policy allows touring companies to receive foreign exchange in the form of payment orders for each package sold to travelers.
“Travel agents need to submit the documents of the services within their package to the TAGA and the association will in turn refer them to ICHHTO which will finally give them to the CBI to issue the payment order,” he said.
Red Tape
A special committee within the TAGA is responsible to review and approve the amount of money required for the package.
The CBI will then be tasked to allocate the total amount of currency for which the touring company has submitted valid documents.
“Agencies will not be given dollars or euros, so they will also have to introduce a broker in the destination to arrange for the payment with the order,” the official said, adding that the amount will be calculated at the official exchange rate.
The process, as described, seems overly bureaucratic and complex, but Rafiei denies its complexity maintaining that the review of the documents would only take hours.
Mohammad Moheb-Khodaei, tourism deputy head at ICHHTO, said with the new regulations, the problems facing outbound tour operators are completely resolved.
In addition, he assured, “Issues regarding the entry of foreign currency to Iran are currently being reviewed.”
