Foreign Tourists Visiting Kerman Up 30 Percent

The number of foreign travelers visiting the southeastern province of Kerman has registered a 30% increase during the first half of the current Iranian year (started March 21), compared with the same period of last year.

The increase follows the sudden rise in the number of tourists in 2013, from 6,000 to the remarkable 40,000 in the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2017).

 “This is the result of preemptive efforts of relevant authorities in line with tourism development,” CHTN quoted Mahmoud Vafaei, the head of the provincial office of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, as saying.

“With the implementation of more tourism development plans in the province, we expect the number of foreign travelers to reach 50,000 until the end of the current Iranian year (March 2018),” he added.

Vafaei believed that expansion of accommodation facilities and travel services in the province has been the most influential factor in raising the figures.

“The development of vacation rentals with the collaboration of private sector has been the most effective solution for accommodating the growing number of tourists,” he said.

A vacation rental involves the renting out of a furnished apartment, house, or professionally managed condominium on a temporary basis to tourists. Villas, suites, rural and nomadic homes also serve as a vacation rental.

Locals interested in lending their properties to travelers have been called upon to apply to ICHHTO to receive permits, Donyaye-Safar travel news website reported in early November.

Reportedly, 160 local houses in Kerman have been repurposed into lodging facilities, promoting it as the first province with the largest number of local rental rooms, preceding Isfahan and Yazd.   

According to Vafaei, 20 applications have been received so far and are being reviewed for licensing.  

Such rentals could help ease the tourist accommodation problem during the peak season.

Rental rooms have been popular with Iranian travelers for years, which help meet the country’s demand for lodging places, especially in the absence of quality hotels.