The Iranian government is making efforts to tap the big-spending Chinese travelers through organizing international conferences aimed at bridging the gap of knowledge for the citizens of the Asian country.
Despite rather close commercial relations with China, Iran's share of the world's largest tourism source market is far smaller than its potential.
Based on the latest figures provided by China's embassy, around 117,000 Iranians obtained visas to the country in 2017 while the number of Chinese tourists to Iran hardly reached 70,000, ISNA reported.
Although the population of Chinese visitors to Iran has increased by 8% over the past six months according to a government official, it is a long way from the target of taking 1% of the market.
First Step
The first significant measure in line with the goal was adopted last year in cooperation with the Iran-China Friendship Association and the Chinese embassy, when a conference on the prospects of relations between the two states with special focus on tourism and trade was organized to identify the shortcomings in the sector. Fereydoun Verdinejad, media adviser to the president and an organizer of the event, told the news agency that follow-up plans are in place to facilitate the flow of information between the two nations.
"A secretariat and specialized committees have been set up for the conference and are currently holding meetings to organize an event around September on the theme of the Silk Road and multilateral cooperation in the economy and tourism sectors," he said.
The official regretted that public interest to travel to Iran has not been aroused among the Chinese yet due to their lack of information about the country.
The deficiency, according to him, has at times led to making wrong travel plans that created misunderstandings and widened the gap between the two nations.
Yet, he expressed hope that such meetings where economic and tourism delegations can meet and exchange information will help redress the public unawareness about Iran.
Conspicuous Absence
Surprisingly, Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization as the country's leading tourism body has not had a strong presence in the endeavor.
In last year's event, ICHHTO officials were only among the speakers.
Verdinejad said although ICHHTO is obviously willing to participate, it needs to increase its involvement.
"The organization needs to provide professional assistance through the production of promotional material and engaging in cultural programs in China," he said.
Way Off Target
With around 129 million outbound tourists in 2017, China is regarded the world's top tourism source market.
Due to their rather large spending, they have also gained a reputation as the most extravagant tourists.
Many countries have gone into an intense competition to get their hands on a bigger share of the market in recent years.
Iran's official tourism ties with China began in 2011 following a memorandum of understanding based on which Iran was listed among possible destinations for the Chinese.
A Long Shot
The country has set itself the target of attracting 1% of the Chinese outbound tourists, but it seems to be a rather elusive objective. Experts blame it on the high costs of travel to Iran in comparison with alternative destinations.
According to Faezeh Akhoundi, an agent in the Chinese tourism market, travel to Iran is still among the most expensive for the Chinese.
"This is while they can visit Europe, America or Casablanca [a popular city with the Chinese] at a much lower cost," she said.
Amin Khoshnavaz, a researcher, has also found out through his filed studies that Iran is not even among the top 20 destinations for the travelers of the populated Asian country.
He has published his findings in an article titled "Why the Chinese should travel more to Iran."
