The harm caused by the imprudent decisions of former officials of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization to build 60 four- and five-star hotels will become more apparent in another year or two, said the chief executive of Iran Tourism Development Corporation.
Gholamhossein Hosseini also told Mehr News Agency that these projects were not implemented due to unknown reasons and now, after a delay of eight year, they have become legal cases awaiting court proceedings.
“The financial damage of these unfinished projects has not been calculated yet. The actual damage will be known after the litigation is over,” he added.
Hosseini said despite all this, his company has had an eye on development of hotel projects.
ITDC has already launched Bistoun Hotel in the city of Kermanshah, capital of Kermanshah Province, and another hotel is to be opened in Ardabil.
“My hotel group will be the most diverse group of lodging facilities. We respect the market demand,” he said.
“Currently, Laleh hotel group has the highest variety, with complexes containing nice boutiques and traditional hotels. We intend to add a sport hotel as well.”
Hosseini said the project of Yazd’s Laleh Hotel has been outsourced to Ehya Fund and the Kish hotel project has been given to the private sector.
“Due to the dispersal of assets of ITDC, some other projects might be outsourced too but no final decision has been made yet,” he said.
The official explained that it is not usual to sell one or two branches of a hotel chain as a hotel group is a chain providing certain services and thus as a group produces value added.
“Selling some of the hotels in a group will create missing links in the chain. The sale of the hotels was the decision of previous management of the corporation and is among cases that need to be clarified,” he said.
