The government and the private sector are expected to reach a comprehensive agreement to help empower provincial and national tourism bodies.
“The approved measures will be enacted in three months,” Muhammad Hassan Kermani, the president of the Association of Air Transport and Tourist Agencies of Iran, was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
Earlier this month, heads of tourism bodies met with the head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization to voice their criticism at the number of articles incorporated in the statute for tourism institutions that was approved on August 26 by the government.
Pointing to the meeting, Kermani said his association aims to “discuss and resolve the legal constraints in the statute and ask the ICHHTO head, Masoud Soltanifar, to help convince the government to revise the statute.”
He expressed disappointment over the fact that the government has been given tasks traditionally delegated to tourism bodies and said, “Distinction must be made between the duties of the government and non-government bodies.”
Kermani expressed hope that the private sector’s propositions will be considered favorably and become operational. “We don’t believe that the existing bodies need to change the way they operate, but we do think that they need government support.
“The support can come in different forms. We don’t need more tourism entities; we only need to empower the existing ones.”
Kermani urged the government and relevant bodies to create an atmosphere conducive to the development and growth of the tourism industry and associated bodies.
During a meeting between ICHHTO officials and tourism professionals earlier this month, Morteza Rahmani Movahed, the organization’s tourism deputy, agreed with a call for strengthening ties between the public and private sectors and said, “It goes without saying that a healthy relationship between the government and private sector will help move the industry forward.”
Public-private partnership will play an undeniable role in helping Iran meet its tourism targets, which include attracting 20 million tourists a year by 2025, he was quoted as saying.
“This partnership should be robust so that it becomes a tourism authority in and of itself,” he said, noting that as long as the law is upheld and the will to cooperate exists, “good things will happen.”
