Hotels in certain provinces will offer 30-70% discounts on room rental fees during the Norouz (Iranian New Year) holidays (March 21-April 2) in line with a scheme to boost domestic travel during the period.
The plan will be implemented following an agreement between Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, and Iranian Hoteliers Association.
Hotels in Tehran, East Azarbaijan, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad, Khorasan Razavi and Fars provinces have agreed to join the scheme, ISNA reported.
Speaking on the sidelines of the recent Cabinet meeting, Ali Asghar Mounesan, the head of ICHHTO, pledged that hotels will not only refrain from increasing room prices, as they did last year, but will also offer special discounts. He assured that hotel operations will be closely monitored to prevent any violation.
"Hotels in the capital, which spent the whole New Year event almost empty last year, will offer 50-70% discounts on rent," Mounesan said.
Last year, with the approach of Norouz, the country's domestic travel market faced a price bubble despite tourism authorities' efforts to keep the cost of travel down.
Hoteliers that had repeatedly denied any plans to raise their rates during the two-week holiday ended up increasing their prices.
Norouz, the Iranian New Year holidays when schools and universities plus offices and organizations are off for about 13 days, is considered a high tourism season in Iran when transport and lodging prices are raised.
Tourism officials have also blamed the popularity of outbound tourism as an impediment to the growth of domestic tourism market.
However, ICHHTO officials are determined to control the market more strictly this year and have a noticeable growth in New Year travel.
Conducting cheap tours for the citizens of Turkey, Iraq and Azerbaijan, is the other measure taken by ICHHTO to stimulate the country's inbound tourism market in this period.
Although travel inside Iran is ironically more expensive than the trip made to regional countries, such measures can be helpful.
