A top tourism official highlighted the untapped potential of the tourism sector to attract foreign currency inflows at a time the government is grappling with a currency crisis.
"Over five million visitors brought $10.54 billion into the country in the last Iranian year [ended on March 20]," director of the tourism department at Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, Mohammad Moheb-Khodaei, said.
"Given the current situation of the country and the fact that there were only five million inbound tourists, that is a considerable sum that reminds the authorities of the importance of the tourism industry and demands their real attention, not just words."
Speaking in an interview with ILNA on Tuesday, Moheb-Khodaei noted that each incoming tourist earns the country $680 directly and $1340 indirectly, on average.
The direct amount, according to him, is an average sum since a medical tourist might spend $3,500 while a religious tourist would spend between $300 and $500.
An example of money indirectly brought into the country could be the costs of aircraft ground handling paid by foreign airlines in the country of destination.
A sharp plunge in the rial's value has prompted the government to impose an official exchange rate at 44,000 rials against the dollar and restrict the supply of the foreign currency to slow its outflow.
Despite its general drawbacks, the devaluation of the rials provides a great opportunity to boost inbound tourism.
Future Targets
Asked about ICHHTO's development plans, he said, "We have been exploring new target markets to add to our traditional ones… The tourism industry holds great potential and all countries are trying to tap the potential."
He cited Turkey as a case in point that managed to successfully shore up its tourism sector by shifting its marketing focus toward Iran, Russia and other countries after suffering a sharp drop in tourist arrivals from Europe in the wake of several deadly attacks by the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group.
"We are seeking to develop our tourism market to cover Iraq, Azerbaijan and Turkey and reestablish a foothold in European countries, where we are facing an Iranophobia campaign and other problems related to insurance and currency transfer. We also plan to promote our tourist attractions in China and India," Moheb-Khodaei said.
The ICHHTO has been under criticism for failing to develop a tourism satellite account, a standard statistical framework for the economic measurement of tourism.
Despite Moheb-Khodaei's claim that the TSA figures for the last two years have been published at www.irtss.ir, the search for any trace of such data on the website proved in vain.
