Weather Conditions Dictate Travel Patterns

Unstable atmospheric conditions across the country during the Iranian New Year—or Norouz—holidays (March 21–April 2) had a visible impact on travel patterns, a high-ranking official at Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization said.

Large swathes of Iran have been experiencing an unusually cold spring, with snow blanketing portions of northwestern and western regions and rain showering northern and central provinces.

“These conditions have clearly had an effect on people’s travel plans,” Morteza Rahmani Movahed, tourism deputy at ICHHTO, was quoted as saying by ISNA. “Trips to far-off locations were replaced by journeys to towns closer, or travel plans were scrapped altogether.”

Around 62 million people visited historical and cultural sites in Iran, such as the ruins of Persepolis in Fars Province, in the first 10 days of Norouz, while only 46.6 million people stayed in lodging facilities.

“We believe the reason this year we’ve had more people visiting sites than those staying at lodging facilities is because of the weather conditions and the impact they’ve had,” Movahed said.

Aside from driving people to historical sites, weather conditions helped boost travel to cities that do not receive a lot of tourists.

“Cities like Qazvin, which normally serve as pit stops during these holidays, turned into actual travel destinations,” he said.

  Declining Occupancy Rate

In spite of offering discounts during the holidays, hotels have seen a 10% decline in occupancy rates compared to last Norouz.

“The hotel industry is a victim of a depression that has befallen the domestic tourism market,” said Jamshid Hamzezadeh, the head of Iran’s Hoteliers Society, Mehr News Agency reported.

Hotels in Iran are accused of providing substandard services far below their reported star ratings and the prices they charge.

Hamzezadeh said over the past few years “most hotels have undergone renovations and recruited more trained staff to enhance the quality of services”.

“To encourage more hotel accommodation, most hoteliers also offered various rates of discount during holidays,” he added. Nonetheless, their efforts seem to have been for naught, as most provinces received fewer visitors compared with previous years.

Experts believe the declining occupancy of Iranian hotels is partly due to the lure of outbound tourism market where quality services are offered at almost the same price.

Hamzezadeh said the number of trips and hotel occupancy rates will be further studied and analyzed after the holidays.