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, according to a top official.
"In spite of US threats, the entry of foreign tourists to Iran has increased by more than 51% during the first half of the current year," Ali Asghar Mounesan, the head of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO), was quoted as saying by ISNA on Thursday.
The official described the growth as "unprecedented during the past few decades", taking into account the meager rise witnessed last year.
ICCHTO's figures disclosed on its official website show that a total of 5,113,524 foreign tourists travelled to Iran during the whole of the previous Iranian year that ended on March 20, 2018. This number indicated a year-on-year increase of only 4.33% or 212,440 visitors.
More notably, 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.
> Mixed Results
In May, US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran's nuclear deal with world powers, in a move that has had both negative and positive implications for the country's tourism sector.
On the one hand, the prospect of returning sanctions and travel restrictions, which limit travel to the US for those who have visited Iran, in addition to Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, as per a March 2017 order, threaten the inbound sector.
To combat this, Iran started implementing an initiative that eliminates the need to put official stamps on passports of foreign tourists visiting Iran from the beginning of the current Iranian month on Sept. 23.
The measure, which entails the issuance of electronic visas for foreign tourists, has been communicated to all Iranian representative offices overseas, as well as all domestic airports.
Foreign tourists from neighboring countries that have common land borders with Iran, including Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey, as well as those from the US, the UK, Canada, Jordan, Colombia, Bangladesh and Somalia, are not part of the new initiative, meaning that their passports will be stamped.
On the other hand, the strong psychological effect of yet another round of US sanctions–this time promised to be more stringent than ever by US officials–has sent Iran's currency into a tailspin. The rial lost close to 75% of its value and reached an all-time low of 190,000 against the US dollar in September, but has regained some lost ground since.
The huge depreciation of the rial has meant that travelling to Iran for foreign tourists has become considerably cheaper, especially in the past six months.
> Increased Focus on Tourism
Mounesan predicted that the notable growth in the flow of foreign tourists to Iran will continue through the end of the current Iranian year in March 2019.
The ICHHTO chief also pointed out that in order to develop tourism infrastructures, the administration of Hassan Rouhani has focused on constructing high-quality hotels.
The total number of five- and four-star hotels in Iran has reached 158 from 125 at the start of Rouhani's tenure some five years ago, he said, adding that the target is 240 hotels by the end of the president's time in office about three years from now, which also coincides with the turn of the Iranian century.
Mounesan also referred to the increased focus on tourism through resources provided by the National Development Fund of Iran.
"Investors have received many cheap loans through the national development fund, as 1,900 tourism projects worth 430 trillion rials (€2.62 billion at the Oct. 5 rate of 164,354 rials to the euro) have been implemented" since the start of Rouhani's tenure, he said.
In addition to easing visa conditions and removing passport stamps for foreign tourists, Iran has also strived to boost its marine tourism sector in recent months.
Two major passenger sea routes have been activated with the country's southern neighbors in recent months and as many as a half a dozen more are in the pipeline.
