A total of 4.1 million tourists visited Iran in 2022, indicating a 315% rise compared to the year before, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
The whopping rise in the number of inbound tourists may be attributed in part to the general relaxation of global preventative measures taken in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, the figure pales in comparison to 2019 when 9.11 million tourists visited the country — the peak of arrivals in recent years.
UNWTO data show the trend of arrivals went south after the 2019 peak until 2021, which is attributable to the onset of sanctions against Iran and the pandemic.
In fact, the trend in Iran follows similar pattern across the globe, as the total number of international tourist arrivals reached its peak of 1.46 billion in 2019. It dropped to 406.89 million in 2020, rose to 455.77 million in the following year and further jumped to 962.8 million last year.
The data also show July was the high season for inbound tourism in Iran last year, as 550,271 tourists visited the country in that month.
Plans to Revive Struggling Tourism Industry
As AFP reported earlier this year, hoping for better days, tourism professionals are wooing visitors from China and Russia that maintain good ties with Iran.
Westerners have long been attracted to Iran's many ancient and Islamic sites, its natural sightseeing spots and its millennia-old culture.
European visitors began to return to Iran in 2015, when it emerged from decades of sanctions after signing a landmark nuclear deal with major powers led by the United States.
In 2019, tourist arrivals reached a record high, as holidaymakers thronged sites such as Isfahan, Persepolis and Shiraz, the jewels of ancient Persia.
"The backsliding started after the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018" and began reimposing crippling economic sanctions, said Farzaneh Mohammadi of state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Railways.
However, foreign media coverage of recent protests in Iran helped "create an atmosphere of Iranophobia", deputy cultural heritage minister, Maryam Jalali, said.
"When the foreign media keep repeating that there is unrest in the country, it discourages travelers," said Amir-Hossein Rahimi, chairman of top private tour operator Alaedin Travel.
Rahimi hopes discussions to revive the 2015 nuclear deal can be relaunched soon, which would help create a more "favorable environment”.
Mohammadi noted that advisories by several European countries against traveling to Iran were also a major blow. "We will probably not have Western tourists this spring," the most popular season for visiting Iran, he said.
Jamshid Hamzehzadeh, the head of Iran's Hotel Association, said hotel occupancy rates were now below 20% and that two-thirds of establishments have had to lay off staff.
The loss of wealthy Western tourists has been a particular problem for sellers of carpets and other handicrafts at major tourist sites.
The coronavirus pandemic has also affected the industry, experts said. "Nearly 80% of tour guides have lost their jobs since the pandemic," said Davoud Dehqani, president of a local association with around 200 members in the historic desert city of Yazd.
"When Yazd was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017, the number of tourists boomed by more than 500%,” Dehqani said, recalling happier days.
In an effort to revive the industry, Iran is trying to attract visitors from Iraq and Lebanon, which share religious and cultural commonalities, Jalali said.
She was referring to Shia pilgrims from around the world who visit the Iranian shrine cities of Mashhad and Qom.
Iran also wants to develop medical tourism by exploiting its "efficient" health infrastructure, lower prices and expertise in cosmetic surgery.
Until then, the tourism industry is being kept afloat thanks to "a small number of foreign visitors from countries like Russia, China and Turkey" that have maintained good relations with the Islamic Republic, Dehqani said.
Expanding Tourism Cooperation With Russia
Iran and Russia recently signed an agreement for enhancement of bilateral tourism cooperation.
The agreement was signed on Friday between Iran’s Deputy Minister of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Ali-Asghar Shalbafian and Russia’s Deputy Minister of Economic Development Dmitry Vakhrukov, IRNA reported.
The two sides signed the agreement on the sidelines of a Russia-Islamic World Forum in Kazan, which calls on both Iran and Russia to accelerate the implementation of a former bilateral agreement for the cancellation of visa requirements for group travels to Iran and Russia by the nationals of the two countries.
The two sides stressed the need for expanding different types of tourism and exploring ways for boosting maritime tourism.
Direct flights between the Iranian capital, Tehran, and Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan in southwest Russia, have been established.
According to Ali Asghar Shalbafian, deputy cultural heritage minister, the first weekly flight was operated on this route on May 17, IRNA reported.
Earlier, direct flights between Tehran and Saint Petersburg were scheduled to be operated from June 1 by Nordwind Airlines.
According to Nordwind’s announcement in its Telegram account, these flights are a part of its spring and summer schedule, which will be operated once a week every Thursday.
An Airbus A321 will depart from Saint Petersburg International Airport (Pulkovo Airport) at 10:15 a.m. (local time) and arrive at Imam Khomeini International Airport at 3:20 p.m. (local time).
The return flight departs from Tehran at 4:20 p.m. (local time) and arrives at Saint Petersburg at 8:35 p.m. (local time).
Nordwind Airlines is a Russian leisure airline headquartered in Moscow and its hub is at Sheremetyevo International Airport. The airline primarily operates between airports in Russia and holiday destinations around the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean.
‘Black Horse' for Chinese Tourists
Chinese travelers are raring to go abroad again, but the destinations they choose may be a little different from the pre-pandemic era.
Iran has become a "black horse" destination for Chinese tourists, who are also eying Russia, Egypt and countries in the Caucasus region, Global Times reported earlier this year.
China recently resumed outbound group tours for Chinese citizens to 40 destinations, including Nepal, Vietnam, Iran, France, Spain, Italy, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Brazil.
What surprised tourist agencies is that Iran has become the biggest "black horse" after group tours were allowed for more countries.
An employee surnamed Lu from U Tour, a tourist agency specializing in international travel, said the firm's 13-day Iran tour, priced at 29,800 yuan ($4,333), was sold out within one day. The latest one available will be around the end of April, said Lu.
"To be honest, we were surprised and not prepared for such a frenzy for Iran … Clients who choose Iran are generally aged 40-50, who are more capable of appreciating the depth of Iranian culture. Also, the country introduced visa-free policies for Chinese travelers," said Lu, adding that the agency plans to increase routes to the Middle East country.
Other agencies were also quoted as saying by media outlets that their Iran tours sold out quickly. A travel agency told The Paper that 30 places for a 10-day Iran trip were sold out in half a day.
"Iran is blessed with rich Persian culture, and it has so much to offer -- food, scenery. Moreover, it is so different from Chinese culture," a 32-year-old Beijing resident surnamed Xie who is planning to visit Iran told the Global Times.
She said the traditionally popular Southeast Asian countries are packed with travelers after China reopened its borders, and the scenery is similar to the southern part of China, but Iran and countries that are far away are more exotic.
Medical Tourism
Health tourism is a goal for the Iranian province of Golestan having three nuclear medical facilities and world-class medical specialists, eTurboNews reported earlier this year.
Golestan is one of the 31 Iranian provinces, located in northeast Iran and southeast of the Caspian Sea.
The capital city of the province is Gorgan, formerly known as Esterabad until 1937. The province also hosts state-of-the-art nuclear medical facilities and medical specialists in this field.
Nuclear medicine physicians are classically trained physicians who have received specialized training in the field of nuclear medicine.
Nuclear medicine therapy treats cancer in combination with other treatment options, such as chemotherapy and surgery. It won’t usually lead to a cure unless combined with other therapies. But for many patience, it will control symptoms and shrink or stabilize tumors, sometimes for years.
Nuclear medicine or nucleology is a medical specialty involving the application of radioactive substances in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.
Nuclear imaging, in a sense, is “radiology done inside out” because it records radiation emitting from within the body rather than radiation generated by external sources like X-rays.
Iran is a cost-effective medical tourism destination.
Despite recent sanctions, Iran hosts an average of one million medical tourists every year.
Medical tourists traveling to Iran are mostly from its neighboring countries, including Iraq and Afghanistan. Two hundred Iranian hospitals have a license to accept foreign patients for medical tourism.
Iranian experts believe medical tourism is a win-win opportunity both for the Islamic Republic and foreign patients. Travelers for medical purposes find affordable but highly qualified treatment in Iran. On the other end, foreign currency generated due to this export is much needed in Iran.
Iran is well known in the world for its credible surgeons and physicians, cutting-edge medical technologies, high-tech medicine and diverse specializations. Medical procedures are affordable by any standard. Iranian nurses and doctors are known for their hospitality and ethics.
The Islamic Republic is planning to increase medical tourism arrival to more than two million by 2025-26.
First in Price Competitiveness
Iran ranked first worldwide in terms of price competitiveness in the World Economic Forum's "The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019".
The report attributed Iran's top ranking to low ticket taxes and airport charges (seventh), fuel prices (fifth) and high purchasing power (fifth).
The depreciation of the Iranian rial is one of the main reasons for the rising appeal of the country’s health tourism sector. The expertise of Iranian physicians has also made the country’s medical services market attractive for foreigners.
Cosmetic surgeries, open heart surgery and orthopedic treatment and female sterility top the list of causes for which health tourists visit Iran.
Iran is said to have the capacity to receive 2-2.5 million health tourists per year, particularly for outpatient services.
Besides Gorgan, Shiraz, the capital of Fars Province, is one of Iran's top destinations for health tourism. Foreign tourists visit Fars for eye, plastic and other specialized surgeries offered at local hospitals.
Health and medical tourism is expected to play a notable role in expanding the tourism sector and Iran’s economy, which is being increasingly focused on in the face of US sanctions.
