At least 105,000 foreign tourists visited the northern Mazandaran Province in Iran during the first six months of the current Iranian year that ended on Sept. 22.
"The majority of foreign tourists stayed in the western part of the province, especially in Chalus, Kelardasht, Noshahr, Babolsar and Ramsar counties," Mehran Hassani, the deputy head of Mazandaran Tourism Organization, told IRNA.
According to the official, most of the foreign tourists who visited Mazandaran came from Persian Gulf countries, in addition to Iraqi tourists. He said the province has the capacity to accept many more tourists.
After Isfahan, Shiraz and Kerman provinces, which boast the most attractions, Mazandaran is counted among the richest of Iran's 31 provinces in this regard.
There are 700 registered historical sites in the province and its tourism infrastructures include 202 hotels, hotel apartments and tourism complexes, 90 ecotourism lodges and 802 homestays.
Furthermore, it has 340 kilometers of beaches and more than 500 kilometers of mountain range, in addition to 1.7 million hectares of forests and pastures.
The Ramsar Cultural Museum Complex is one of Mazandaran's landmark tourism attractions.
According to its director, Ali Gholami, about 52,000 foreign tourists visited the complex, showing a 42% annual rise.
"The capacities of the museum complex have meant that it has become one of the top five museums of the country in terms of visitors," Gholami also told IRNA.
The complex has a total area of 12 hectares and boasts six museum halls exhibiting more than 300 items. It also has a traditional bathhouse, a landmark spring and a lagoon.
"From the start of the current Iranian year [in March], about 542,000 people have visited the complex, which shows a 14% increase compared with the same period of the year before," Gholami said.
According to Ali Asghar Mounesan, the head of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, the number of foreign tourists travelling to Iran jumped by 51% during the first six months of the current fiscal year (March 21-Sept. 22), despite the fact that the reimposition of US sanctions poses a serious threat to the emerging sector. He did not disclose numbers.
ICCHTO figures show that the first half of last year had actually seen the number of inbound tourists to Iran fall slightly, as 2,619,310 foreign tourists travelled to the country in this period, down from 2,701,859 the year before.
