The visa waiver program initiated by Iran for citizens of Oman is poised to boost the Islamic Republic's travel industry in general and health tourism sector in particular.
"The presence of health and medical tourists in the province of Shiraz has led to a 108% jump in the number of foreign tourists visiting the area," Ali Asghar Mounesan, the head of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism Organization, has been quoted as saying by ILNA.
"This shows that the expansion of visa waiver programs will benefit our country's tourism sector," he added.
Iran eliminated the need for citizens of Oman to obtain visas to travel to the Islamic Republic in September and announced that the initiative will come into effect early October.
"Based on a directive approved by the Cabinet on Sept. 17 and further notified by the first vice president [Es'haq Jahangiri], Omani residents can henceforth travel to Iran without first having to obtain visas," Mohammad Reza Shahroudi, Iran's ambassador to the Arab nation, told IRNA at the time.
The move was in recognition of recent facilities extended by the Omani government to Iran.
Mounesan further explained the benefits of doing away with visas in case of Omani residents by saying, "Oman is recognized as our target destination in the medical tourism sector" as many residents from the Arab nation travel to Iran for health and medical reasons.
"Visas created barriers for this issue and fortunately they were removed," he said.
Residents of Iran still need to acquire visa to travel to the Arab nation, but they can now opt for electronic visas instead of having to apply in person. Iranians can get 10-day visas that may be extended by up to one year upon entering Oman.
The ICCHTO chief also denied rumors that the waiver has been issued due to acute medical issues faced by a number of Omani residents.
"This is not true at all and the initiative was implemented at the request of ICCHTO and with the agreement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Mounesan said.
The visa waiver initiative is the latest step in a series of measures aimed at boosting bilateral relations that have significantly improved recently. The two nations have become much closer both in terms of politics and from an economic standpoint.
Iran has mounted a wider effort to facilitate the process of obtaining visas for foreign nationals to boost its tourism sector in the face of returning US sanctions.
