The number of foreign tourists who stayed in hotels across the northeastern province of Razavi Khorasan nearly doubled in the ten days ending August 1, compared with same period last year.
"Over the first ten days of the current Iranian month, the province's hotels provided accommodation to 60,000 international visitors, registering a 93% increase from the corresponding period last year, when the figure stood at 31,000," Yousef Bidkhori, a deputy head of the provincial office of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, told IRNA on Monday.
He attributed the boom in the provincial hotel industry to a decline in the value of the national currency.
"While Iran, particularly the provincial capital Mashhad, already was a cheap tourist destination, the recent developments in the foreign currency market triggered an influx of foreign travelers."
Despite its general drawbacks, the devaluation of the rial provides a great opportunity to boost inbound tourism.
Razavi Khorasan boasts 1,539 lodging facilities, including hotels, apartment hotels and inns that host roughly 30 million visitors every year.
It is the top province in terms of the number of tourism facilities.
Mashhad is among the hottest Iranian destinations as it is home to the shrine of Imam Reza (PBUH), the eighth Shia Imam, which draws over 27 million Iranian and two million foreign pilgrims every year.
