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Iran Gearing Up for Fitur 2016

Iran Gearing Up for Fitur 2016
Iran Gearing Up for Fitur 2016

Iran is preparing to attend one of the most reputable travel and tourism exhibitions in the world: Fitur 2016 in Madrid, Spain.

A five-day event (January 20-24, 2016) held annually, Fitur is a global meeting point for tourism professionals.

Ebadreza Eslami, head of the Tourism and Handicrafts Office at the Touring and Automobile Club, said the club will be Iran’s representative at the expo, the Persian daily Donya-e-Eqtesad reported.

He asked travel agencies, tour operators, hoteliers and transportation companies interested in participating in the event to submit their applications to TAC by September 22.

Active participation in international expos is necessary to promote Iranian tourism attractions and provides a platform for tourism authorities and travel agencies to meet their counterparts from across the world. These events offer some of the most cost-effective opportunities for exploring overseas markets and introducing new packages.

For years, tourism officials have been citing poor funding as the main reason behind Iran’s lack of participation in international exhibitions. In fact, the private sector has been vocal about not receiving any support from Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization to participate in such events.

In an interview with the Persian travel news website Donyaye Safar in July, the promotion and marketing deputy at ICHHTO’s Tourism Department, Ali Baqer Nemati Zargaran, said measures have been taken to bring the public and private sectors closer and enhance cooperation.

Iran is expected to be represented at four exhibitions by the end of the year: 37th IFTM Top Resa exhibition in France (Sept. 24-27), 23rd International Travel Show TT Warsaw in Poland (Nov. 26-28), Industry and Travel Market Exhibition in Singapore (Oct. 2-7) and the 21st Tashkent International Tourism Fair in Uzbekistan (Oct. 6-8).

Aside from Fitur, officials are planning to participate in ITB Berlin in 2016, scheduled for March 9-13.

  Handicraft Shopping Spots

Eslami said the club is committed to promoting Iranian handicrafts abroad and have targeted specific markets.

“To draw attention to Iranian craft, we’re going to set up shopping spots in target markets, such as Italy where the cities of Rome, Milan and Venice are prime locations to promote traditional Iranian handicrafts,” he said.

Eslami pointed to 10 Iranian tourism information offices set up worldwide and said TAC will organize a meeting with the heads of those offices to help boost inbound tourism.

These offices are tasked with introducing Iran’s attractions to potential tourists and provide feedback to Iran’s tourism officials.

ICHHTO plans on opening more than 15 such offices by the end of the current Iranian year (March 19, 2016).

 

Financialtribune.com